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FOUR  ORATIONS. 


AN  ARGUMENT, 


IN  NINE  PARTS. 


BY  THE  REVEREND  EDWARD  IRVING,  M.A 

HIXISTEB  OF  1H£  CALEDOKIAIT  CHUBCH,  HAT'SO^'QARDEK. 


NEW  YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  J.  F.  SIBEJLL,  CORNER  OF  FULTON  AND  PEARL  STREETS. 

182?. 


^7 


CONTENTS. 


PAQ£. 

Preface  v 

ORATIONS. 

Dedicaion xi 

I.  The  Preparation  for  consulting  the  Oracles  of  God       IS 

II.  The  Manner  of  consulting  the  Oracles  of  God  ...     2^ 
Yy  \  The  Obeying  of  the  Oracles  of  God $  ^^ 


JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

Dedication 73 

Part  I.  The  Plan  of  the  Argument  ;*— with  an  Inquiry 
into  Responsibility  in  general,  and  God's  right 
to  place  the  World  under  Responsibility  ...    77 

II.     The  Constitution  under  which  it  hath  pleased 

God  to  place  the  World 94 

III.  The  same  Subject  continued 115 

IV.  The  good  Effects  of  the  above  Constitution,  both 

3ipon  the  Individual  and  upon  Political  Society  146 

V.    Preliminaries  of  the  Solemn  Judgment 176 

VI.    The  Last  Judgment 205 

VII.     The  Issues  of  the  Judgment 238 

VIII.     The  only  Way  to  escape   Condemnation  and 

Wrath  to  come 270 

IX,    The  Review  of  the  whole  Argument,  and  endea- 
vour to  bring  it  home  to  the  Sons  of  Men   .  .  309 


PREFACE. 


IT  hath  appeared  to  the  Author  of  this  book,  from 
more  than  ten  years'  meditation  upon  the  subject,  that 
the  chief  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  divine  truth  over 
the  minds  of  men,  is  the  want  of  its  being  properly  pre- 
sented to  them.  In  this  Christian  country  there  are, 
perhaps,  nine-tenths  of  every  class  who  know  nothing  at 
all  about  the  applications  and  advantages  of  the  single 
truths  of  revelation,  or  of  revelation  taken  as  a  whole ; 
and  what  they  do  not  know,  they  cannot  be  expected 
to  reverence  or  obey.  This  ignorance,  in  both  the 
higher  and  the  lower  orders,  of  Religion,  as  a  discerner 
of  the  thoughts  and  intentions  of  the  heart,  is  not  so 
much  due  to  the  want  of  inquisitiveness  on  their  part, 
as  to  the  want  of  a  sedulous  and  skilful  ministry  on  the 
part  of  those  to  whom  it  is  entrusted. 

This  sentiment  may  seem  to  convey  a  reflection  upon 
the  clerical  order ;  but  it  is  not  meant  to  reflect  upon 
them  so  much  as  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  subject. 
They  must  be  conscious  that  reading  is  the  food  of 
thought,  and  thought  the  cause  of  action  ;  and  therefore, 
in  what  proportion  the  reading  of  a  people  is  impreg- 
nated with  religio^is  truth,  in  that  proportion  will  the 
conduct  of  a  people  be  guided  into  religious  ways.  We 
must,  therefore,  lay  our  hand  upon  the  press  as  well  as 

9 


VI  PREFACE. 

the  pulpit,  and  season  its  effusions  with  an  admixture  of 
devout  feeling  and  pious  thought.  But,  whereas  men 
read  for  entertainment  and  direction  in  their  several 
studies  and  pursuits,  it  becomes  needful  that  we  make 
ourselves  adept  in  these,  and  into  the  body  of  them  all 
infuse  the  balm  of  salvation,  that  when  the  people  con- 
suit  for  the  present  life,  they  may  be  admonished,  stealthily 
and  skilfully  invaded  with  admonition,  of  the  life  to 
come.  So  that,  until  the  servants  and  ministers  of  the 
living  God  do  pass  the  limits  of  pulpit  theology  and 
pulpit  exhortation,  and  take  weapons  in  their  hand,  ga- 
thered out  of  every  region  in  which  the  life  of  man  or 
his  faculties  are  interested,  they  shall  never  have  religion 
triumph  and  domineer  in  a  country,  as  beseemeth  her 
high  original,  her  native  majesty,  and  her  eternity  of 
freely-bestowed  well  being. 

To  this  the  ministers  of  religion  should  bear  their  at- 
tention tQ  be  called,  for  until  they  thus  acquire  the  pass- 
word which  is  to  convey  them  into  every  man's  encamp- 
ment, they  speak  to  that  man  from  a  distance,  and  at 
disadvantage.  It  is  but  a  parley  ;  it  is  no  conference, 
nor  treaty,  nor  harmonious  communication.  To  this 
end,  they  must  discover  new  vehicles  for  conveying  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  into  the  minds  of  the  people; 
poetical,  historical,  scientific,  political,  and  sentimental 
vehicles.  In  all  these  regions  some  of  the  population 
are  domesticated  with  all  their  affections ;  who  are  as 
dear, in  God's  sight  as  are  others ;  and  why  they  should 
not  be  come  at,  why  means  should  not  be  taken  to  come 
at  them,  can  any  good  reason  be  assigned  ?  They  pre- 
pare men  for  teaching  gipsies,  for  teaching  bargemen , 
for  teaching  miners;  men  who  understand  their  ways  of 


PREFACE.  VU 

conceiving  and  estimating  truth ;  why  not  train  ourselves 
for  teaching  imaginative  men  and  political  men,  and  legal 
men  and  medical  men?  and,  having  got  the  key  to 
their  several  chambers  of  delusion  and  resistance,  why 
not  enter  in  and  debate  the  matter  with  their  souls?  Then 
they  shall  be  left  without  excuse  ;  meanwhile,  I  think, 
we  ministers  are  without  excuse. 

Moved  by  these  feelings,  I  have  set  the  example  of 
two  new  methods  of  handling  religious  truth — the  Ora- 
tion y  and  the  Argument ;  the  one  intended  to  be  after 
the  manner  of  the  ancient  Oration,  the  best  vehicle  for 
addressing  the  minds  of  men  which  the  world  hath  seen, 
far  beyond  the  sermon,  of  which  the  very  name  hath 
learned  to  inspire  drowsiness  and  tedium ;  the  other 
after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  Apologies,  with  this  dif- 
ference, that  it  is  pleaded  not  before  any  judicial  bar,  but 
before  the  tribunal  of  human  thought  and  feeling.  The 
former  are  but  specimens ;  the  latter,  though  most  im- 
perfect, is  intended  to  be  complete.  The  Orations  are 
placed  first  in  the  volume,  because  the  Oracles  of  God, 
which  they  exalt,  are  the  foundation  of  the  Argument, 
which  brings  to  reason  and  common  feeling  one  of  the 
revelations  which  they  contain. 

For  criticism  I  have  given  most  plentiful  occasion, 
and  I  deprecate  it  not ;  for  it  is  the  free  agitation  of 
questions  that  brings  the  truth  to  light.  It  has  also  been 
my  lot  to  have  a  good  deal  of  it  where  I  could  not  meet 
it,  and  if  I  get  a  good  deal  more  I  shall  not  grumble ; 
for,  a  book  is  the  property  of  the  Public,  to  do  with  it 
what  they  like.  The  Author's  care  of  it  is  finished 
when  he  hath  given  it  birth.     The  people  are  responsi- 


viii  PREPACK. 

ble  for  the  rest.  I  have  besought  the  guidance  of  the 
Almighty  and  his  blessing  very  often,  and  have  nothing 
to  beseech  of  men,  but  that  they  would  look  to  them- 
selves,  and  have  mercy  upon  their  own  souls. 


«0& 


w^  mw^^'^m  ®w  mmwi 


FOUR  ORATIONS. 


TO  TBE 


REV.  THOMAS  CHALMERS,  D.  D. 

MINISTER  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  GLASGOW. 
My  Honoured  Fhiend, 

I  thank  God,  who  directed  you  to  hear  one  of 
my  Discourses  when  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  leave 
my  native  land  for  solitary  travel  in  foreign  parts.  That 
dispensation  brought  me  acquainted  with  your  good  and 
tender-hearted  nature,  whose  splendid  accomplishments 
I  knew  already ;  and  you  now  live  in  the  memory  of  my 
heart  more  than  in  my  admiration.  While  I  laboured 
as  your  assistant,  my  labours  were  never  weary,  they 
were  never  enough  to  express  my  thankfulness  to  God 
for  having  associated  me  with  such  a  man,  and  my 
affection  to  the  man  with  whom  I  was  associated.  I 
now  labour  in  another  field,  among  a  people  whom  I 
love,  and  over  whom  God  hath,  by  signs  unequivocal, 
already  blessed  my  ministry.  You  go  to  labour  likewise 
in  another  vineyard,  where  may  the  Lord  bless  your  re- 
tired meditations  as  he  hath  blessed  your  active  opera- 
tions. And  may  we  likewise^  watch  over  the  flock  of 
our  mutual  solicitude,  now  about  to  fall  into  other  hands. 
The  Lord  be  with  you  and  your  household,  and  render 
unto  you  manifold  for  the  blessings  which  you  have 


Xn  DEDICATION. 

rendered  unto  me.  I  could  say  much  about  these  Ora- 
tioi?s,  which  I  dedicate  to  you  ;  but  I  will  not  mingle 
with  any  literary  or  theological  discussion  this  pure  tri- 
bute of  affection  and  gratitude,  which  I  render  to  you 
before  the  world,  as  I  have  already  done  into  your  pri- 
vate ear. 

I  am, 

My  honoured  Friend, 
Your's, 
In  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel, 

EDW.  IRVING. 

(Caledonian  Churcn, 
Uatton  Garden. 


ORATIONS,  LECTUBES, 

AND 

ERMONS. 


ORATION  I. 


JOHN  V.  39.       SEARCH  THE  SCRIPTUHE8. 

THE  PREPARATION  FOR  CONSULTING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOt). 


There  was  a  time  when  each  revelation  of  the  word  of 
God  had  an  introduction  into  this  earth  which  neither  per- 
mitted men  to  doubt  whence  it  came,  nor  wherefore  it  was 
sent.  If,  at  the  giving  of  each  several  truth,  a  star  was  not 
lighted  up  in  heaven,  as  at  the  birth  of  the  Prince  of  truth, 
there  was  done  upon  the  earth  a  wonder,  to  make  her  chil- 
dren listen  to  the  message  of  their  Maker.  The  Almighty- 
made  bare  his  arm  j  and,  through  mighty  acts  shown  by  his 
holy  servants,  gave  demonstration  of  his  truth,  and  found  for 
it  a  sure  place  among  the  other  matters  of  human  knowledge 
and  belief. 

But  now  the  miracles  of  God  have  ceased,  and  Nature, 
secure  and  unmolested,  is  no  longer  called  on  for  testi- 
monies to  her  Creator's  voice.  No  burning  bush  draws  the 
footsteps  to  his  presence  chamber  ;  no  invisible  voice  holds 
the  ear  awake  ;  no  hand  cometh  forth  from  the  obscure  to 
write  his  purposes  in  letters  of  flame.  The  vision  is  shut 
up,  and  the  testimony  is  sealed,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  is 
ended,  and  this  solitary  volume,  with  its  chapters  and  verses, 
is  the  sum  total  of  all  for  which  the  chariot  of  heaven  made 
so  many  visits  to  the  earth,  and  the  Son  of  God  himself  taber- 
nacled and  dwelt  among  us. 

The  truth  which  it  contains  once  dwelt  undivulged  in  the 
bosom  of  God  ;  and,  on  coming  forth  to  take  its  place  among 
things  revealed,  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  Nature 
through  all  her  chambers,  gave  it  reverent  welcome.  Beyond 

3 


14f  PREPARATION  FOR  CONSULTING 

what  it  contains,  the  mysteries  of  the  future  are  unknown- 
To  gain  it  acceptation  and  currency  the  noble  company  ot 
martyrs  testified  unto  the  death.  The  general  assembly  ot 
the  first-born  in  heaven  made  it  the  day-star  of  their  hopes, 
and  the  pavilion  of  their  peace.  Its  every  sentence  is 
charmed  with  the  power  of  God,  and  powerful  to  the  ever- 
lasting salvation  of  souls. 

Having  our  minds  filled  with  these  thoughts  of  the  prime- 
val divinity  of  revealed  Wisdom  when  she  dwelt  in  the  bosom 
of  God,  and  was  of  his  eternal  self  a  part,  long  before  he 
prepared  the  heavens  or  set  a  compass  upon  the  face  of  the 
deep ;  revolving  also  how  by  the  space  of  four  thousand 
years  every  faculty  of  mute  Nature  did  solemn  obeisance  to 
this  daughter  of  the  divine  mind,  whenever  he  pleased  to 
commission  her  forth  to  the  help  of  mortals  ;  and  further 
meditating  upon  the  delights  which  she  had  of  old  with  the 
sons  of  men,  the  height  of  heavenly  temper  to  which  she 
raised  them,  and  the  offspring  of  magnanimous  deeds  which 
these  two — the  wisdom  of  God,  and  the  soul  of  man — did 
engender  between  themselves — meditating,  I  say,  upon  these 
mighty  topics,  our  soul  is  smitten  with  grief  and  shame  to 
remark  how,  in  this  latter  day,  she  hath  fallen  from  her  high 
estate  ;  and  fallen  along  with  her  the  great  and  noble  charac- 
ter of  men.  Or  if  there  be  still  a  few  names,  as  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Martyn,  to  emulate  the  saints  of  old — how  to  the 
commonalty  of  Christians  her  oracles  have  fallen  into  a 
household  commonness,  and  her  visits  into  a  cheap  familiari- 
ty ;  while  by  the  multitude  she  is  mistaken  for  a  minister  of 
terror  sent  to  oppress  poor  mortals  with  moping  melancholy, 
and  inflict  a  wound  upon  the  happiness  of  human  kind  ! 

For  there  is  now  no  express  stirring  up  of  faculties  to 
meditate  her  high  and  heavenly  strains — there  is  no  formal 
sequestration  of  the  mind  from  all  other  concerns  on  pur- 
pose for  her  special  entertainment — there  is  no  pause  of 
solemn  seeking  and  solemn  waiting  for  a  spiritual  frame,  be- 
fore entering  and  listening  to  the  voice  of  the  Almighty's 
wisdom.  Who  feels  the  sublime  dignity  there  is  in  a  saying 
fresh  descended  from  the  porch  of  heaven  ?  Who  feels  the 
awful  weight  there  is  in  the  least  iota  that  hath  dropped  from 
the  lips  of  God  ?  Who  feels  the  thrilling  fear  or  trembling 
hope  there  is  in  words  whereon  the  eternal  destinies  of  him- 
self do  hapg  ?  Who  feels  the  swelling  tide  of  gratitude  within 
his  breast,  for  redemption  and  salvation  coming,  instead  of 
flat  despair  and  everlasting  retribution  ?  Finally,  who,  in 
perusing  the  word  of  God,  is  captivated  through  all  his  fa- 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  15 

culties,  and  transported  through  all  his  emotions,  and  through 
all  his  energies  of  action  wound  up  ?  Why,  to  say  the  best, 
it  is  done  as  other  duties  are  wont  to  be  done  :  and,  hav- 
ing reached  the  rank  of  a  daily,  formal  duty,  the  perusal 
of  the  Word  hath  reached  its  noblest  place.  Yea,  that 
which  is  the  guide  and  spur  of  all  duty,  the  necessary 
aliment  of  Christian  life,  the  first  and  the  last  of  Christian 
knowledge  and  Christian  feeling,  hath,  to  speak  the  best,  de- 
generated in  these  days  to  stand  rank  and  file  among  those 
duties  whereof  it  is  parent,  preserver  and  commander.  And, 
to  speak  not  the  best  but  the  fair  and  common  truth,  this 
book,  the  offspring  of  the  divine  mind,  and  the  perfection  of 
heavenly  wisdom,  is  permitted  to  lie  ifrom  day  to  day,  per- 
haps from  week  to  week,  unheeded  and  unperused ;  never 
welcome  to  our  happy,  healthy  and  energetic  moods ;  ad- 
mitted, if  admitted  at  all,  in  seasons  of  sickness,  fecble- 
ttiindedness,  and  disabling  sorrow.  Yea,  that  which  was 
sent  to  be  a  spirit  of  ceaseless  joy  and  hope,  within  the  heart 
of  man,  is  treated  as  the  enemy  of  happiness,  and  the  mur- 
derer of  enjoyment ;  and  eyed  askance,  as  the  remembrancer 
of  death  and  the  very  messenger  of  hell ! 

Oh  !  if  books  had  but  tongues  to  speak  their  wrongs,  then 
might  this  book  well  exclaim — Hear,  O  heavens  !  and  give 
ear,  O  earth  !  I  came  from  the  love  and  embrace  of  God,  and 
mute  Nature,  to  whom  I  brought  no  boon,  did  me  rightful 
homage.  To  man  I  came,  and  my  words  were  to  the  chil- 
dren of  men.  I  disclosed  to  you  the  mysteries  of  hereafter, 
and  the  secrets  of  the  throne  of  God.  I  set  open  to  you  the 
gates  of  salvation,  and  the  way  of  eternal  life,  hitherto  un- 
known.. Nothing  in  heaven  did  I  withhold  from  your  hope 
and  ambition ;  and  upon  your  earthly  lot  I  poured  the  full 
horn  of  divine  providence  and  consolation.  But  ye  requited 
me  with  no  welcome,  ye  held  no  festivity  on  my  arrival :  ye 
sequester  me  from  happiness  and  heroism,  closeting  me  with 
sickness  and  infirmity  ;  ye  make  not  of  me,  nor  use  me  for 
your  guide  to  wisdom  and  prudence,  but  prejss  me  into  a 
place  in  your  last  of  duties,  and  withdraw  me  to  a  mere  cor- 
ner of  your  time  ;  and  most  of  ye  set  me  at  nought  and  ut- 
terly disregard  me.  I  came,  the  fulness  of  the  knowledge 
of  God  ;  angels  delighted  in  my  company,  and  desired  to 
dive  into  my  secrets.  But  ye,  mortals,  place  masters  over 
me,  subjecting  me  to  the  discipline  and  dogmatism  of  men, 
and  tutoring  m.e  in  your  schools  of  learning.  I  came,  not  to 
be  silent  in  your  dwellings,  but  to  speak  welfare  to  you  and 
to  your  children.     I  came  to  rule,  and  my  throne  to  set  np 


16        PREPARATION  FOB  CONSULTING 

in  the  hearts  of  men.  Mine  ancient  residence  was  the  bosom 
of  God ;  no  residence  will  I  have  but  the  soul  of  an  immor- 
tal ;  and  if  you  had  entertained  me,  I  should  have  possessed 
you  of  the  peace  which  I  had  with  God,  "  when  I  was  with 
him  and  was  daily  his  delight,  rejoicing  always  before  him. 
Because  I  have  called  and  you  refused,  I  have  stretched  out 
my  hand  and  no  man  regarded  ;  but  ye  have  set  at  nought 
all  my  counsel,  and  would  none  of  my  reproof ;  I  also  will 
laugh  at  your  calamity  and  mock  when  your  fear  cometh  : 
when  your  fear  cometh  as  desolation,  and  your  destruction 
Cometh  as  a  whirlwind,  when  distress  and  anguish  cometh 
upon  you.  Then  shall  they  cry  upon  me  but  I  will  not  an- 
swer, they  shall  seek  me  early  but  they  shall  not  find  me." 

From  this  cheap  estimation  and  wanton  neglect  of  God's 
counsel,  and  from  the  terror  of  this  curse  consequent  thereon, 
we  have  resolved,  in  the  strength  of  God,  to  do  our  en- 
deavour to  deliver  this  congregation  of  his  intelligent  and 
worshipping  people — an  endeavour  which  we  make  with  a 
full  perception  of  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome  on  every 
side,  within  no  less  than  without  the  sacred  pale  ;  and  upon 
which  we  enter  with  utmost  diffidence  of  our  powers,  yet 
with  the  full  purpose  of  straining  them  to  the  utmost,  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  with  which  it  hath  pleased  God  to  endow 
our  mind.  And  do  thou,  O  Lord,  from  whom  cometh  the 
perception  of  truth,  vouchsafe  to  thy  servant  an  unction  from 
thine  own  Spirit  who  searcheth  all  things,  yea  the  deep  things 
of  God — and  vouchsafe  to  thy  people  "  the  hearing  ear  and 
the  understanding  heart,  that  they  may  hear  and  understand, 
and  their  souls  may  live  !" 

Before  the  Almighty  made  his  appearance  upon  Sinai, 
there  were  awful  precursors  sent  to  prepare  his  way :  while 
he  abode  in  sight  there  were  solemn  ceremonies  and  a  strict 
ritual  of  attendance  ;  when  he  departed  the  whole  camp  set 
itself  to  conform  unto  his  revealed  will.  Likewise,  before 
the  Saviour  appeared,  with  his  better  law,  there  was  a  noble 
procession  of  seers  and  prophets,  who  descried  and  warned 
the  world  of  his  coming  :  when  he  came  there  were  solemn 
announcements  in  the  heavens  and  on  the  earth :  he  did  not 
depart  without  due  honours  ;  and  there  followed,  on  his  de- 
parture, a  succession  of  changes  and  alterations,  which  are 
still  in  progress,  and  shall  continue  in  progress  till  the  world 
end.  This  may  serve  to  teach  us,  that  a  revelation  of  the 
Almighty's  will  makes  demand  for  these  three  things,  on  the 
part  of  those  to  whom  it  is  revealed.     A  due,  preparation 

FOR  RECEIVING  IT.      A  DILIGENT  ATTENTION  TO  IT  WHILS 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  17 

IT  IS  DISCLOSING.       A  STRICT  OBSERVANCE  OF  IT  WHEN  IT 
IS  DELIVERED. 

In  the  whole  book  of  the  Lord's  revelations,  you  shall 
search  in  vain  for  one  which  is  devoid  of  these  necessary- 
parts.  Witness  the  awe-struck  Isaiah,  while  the  Lord  dis- 
played before  him  the  sublime  pomp  of  his  presence,  and, 
not  content  with  overpowering  the  frail  sense  of  the  prophet, 
despatched  a  seraph  to  do  the  ceremonial  of  touching  his 
lips  with  hallowed  fire,  all  before  he  uttered  one  word  into 
his  astonished  ear.  Witness  the  majestic  apparition  to  St. 
John,  in  the  Apocalypse,  of  all  the  emblematical  glory  of  the 
Son  of  man,  allowed  to  take  silent  effect  upon  the  apostle's 
spirit,  and  prepare  it  for  the  revelation  of  things  to  come. 
These  heard  with  all  their  absorbed  faculties,  and  with  all 
their  powers  addressed  them  to  the  bidding  of  the  Lord. 
But,  if  this  was  in  aught  flinched  from,  witness  in  the  perse- 
cution of  the  prophet  Jonah  the  fearful  issues  which  ensued. 
From  the  presence  of  the  Lord  he  could  not  flee.  Fain 
would  he  have  escaped  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  ; 
but  in  the  mighty  waters  the  terrors  of  the  Lord  fell  on 
him ;  and,  when  ingulphed  in  the  deep,  and  entombed  in  the 
monster  of  the  deep,  still  the  Lord's  word  was  upon  the  ob^ 
durate  prophet,  who  had  no  rest,  not  the  rest  of  the  grave, 
till  he  had  fulfilled  it  to  the  very  uttermost. 

Now — judging  that  every  time  we  open  the  pages  of  this 
holy  book,  we  are  to  be  favoured  with  no  less  than  a  com- 
munication from  on  high,  in  substance  the  same  with  those 
whereof  we  have  detailed  the  three  distinct  and  several  parts 
— we  conceive  it  due  to  the  majesty  of  Him  who  speaks,  that 
we,  in  like  manner,  discipline  our  spirits  with  a  due  prepar- 
ation, and  have  them  in  a  proper  frame,  before  we  listen  to 
the  voice.  That,  while  it  is  disclosing  to  us  the  important 
message,  we  be  wrapt  in  full  attention.  And  that,  when  it 
hath  disburdened  itself  into  our  opened  and  enlarged  spirits^ 
we  proceed  forthwith  to  the  business  of  its  fulfilment,  whith- 
ersoever and  to  whatsoever  it  summon  us  forth.  Upon  each 
of  these  three  duties,  incumbent  upon  one  who  would  not  fore- 
go the  benefit  of  a  heavenly  message,  we  shall  discourse 
apart,  addressing  ourselves  in  this  discourse  to  the  Jirst  men- 
tioned of  the  three. 

The  preparation  for  the  announcement. — When 
God  uttcreth  his  voice,  says  the  Psalmist,  coals  of  fire  are 
kindled  ;  the  hills  melt  down  like  wax,  the  earth  quakes,  and 
deep  proclaims  it  unto  hollow  deep.  This  same  voice,  which 
the  stubborn  elements  cannot  withstand,  the  children  of  Israel 


18  PREPARATION  FOR  CONSULTINti 

having  heard  but  once,  prayed  that  it  might  not  be  spoken  to 
them  any  more.  These  sensible  images  of  the  Creator  have 
now  vanished,  and  we  are  left  alone,  in  the  deep  recesses  of 
the  meditative  mind,  to  discern  his  comings  forth.  No  trump 
of  heaven  now  speaketh  in  the  world's  ear.  No  angelic  con- 
veyancer of  Heaven's  will  taketh  shape  from  the  vacant  air, 
and,  having  done  his  errand,  retireth  into  his  airy  habitation. 
No  human  messenger  putteth  forth  his  miraculous  hand  to 
heal  Nature's  immedicable  wounds,  winning  for  his  words  a 
silent  and  astonished  audience.  Majesty  and  might  no  longer 
precede  the  oracles  of  Heaven.  They  lie  silent  and  unob- 
trusive, wrapped  up  in  their  little  compass — one  volume, 
amongst  many,  innocently  handed  to  and  fro,  having  no  dis- 
tinction but  that  in  which  our  mustered  thoughts  are  enabled 
to  invest  them.  The  want  of  solemn  preparation  and  cir- 
cumstantial pomp,  the  imagination  of  the  mind  hath  now  to 
supply.  The  presence  of  the  Deity,  and  the  authority  of  his 
voice,  our  thoughtful  spirits  must  discern.  Conscience  must 
supply  the  terrors  that  were  wont  to  go  before  him  ;  and  the 
brightness  of  his  coming,  which  the  sense  can  no  longer  be- 
hold, the  heart,  ravished  with  his  word,  must  feel. 

For  this  solemn  vocation  of  all  her  powers,  to  do  her  Mak- 
er honour  and  give  him  welcome,  it  is,  at  the  very  least,  ne- 
cessary that  the  soul  stand  absolved  from  every  call.  Every 
foreign  influence  or  authority,  arising  out  of  the  world,  or 
the  things  of  the  world,  should  be  burst  when  about  to  stand 
before  the  Fountain  of  all  authority.  Every  argument,  every 
invention,  every  opinion  of  man  forgot,  when  about  to  ap- 
proach to  the  Father  and  oracle  of  all  intelligence.  And  as 
subjects,  when  their  prince  honours  them  with  invitations,  are 
held  disengaged,  though  pre-occupied  with  a  thousand  ap- 
pointments— so,  upon  an  audience  fixed  and  about  to  be  hold- 
en  with  the  King  of  kings,  it  well  becomes  the  honoured 
mortal  to  break  loose  from  all  thraldom  of  men  and  things, 
and  be  arrayed  in  liberty  of  thought  and  action,  to  drink  in 
the  rivers  of  his  pleasure,  and  to  perform  the  commissions 
of  his  lips. 

Now  far  otherwise  it  hath  appeared  to  us,  that  Christians, 
as  well  as  worldly  men,  come  to  this  most  august  occupation 
of  listening  to  the  word  of  God,  preoccupied  and  prepos- 
sessed, inclining  to  it  a  partial  ear,  a  straitened  understand- 
ing, and  a  disaffected  will. 

The  Christian  public  are  prone  to  preoccupy  themselves 
with  the  admiration  of  those  opinions  by  which  they  stand 
distinguished  as  a  church  or  sect  from  other  Christians  j  and, 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  i9 

instead  of  being  quite  unfettered  to  receive  the  whole  coun- 
cil of  the  divinity,  they  are  prepared  to  welcome  it,  no  far- 
ther than  as  it  bears  upon  and  stands  with  opinions  which 
they  already  favour.  To  this  prejudgment  the  early  use  of 
catechisms  mainly  contributes,  which,  however  serviceable 
in  their  place,  have  the  disadvantage  of  presenting  the  truth 
in  a  form  altogether  different  from  what  it  occupies  in  the 
Word  itself.  In  the  one  it  is  presented  to  the  intellect  chief- 
ly, (and  in  our  catechism  to  an  intellect  of  a  very  subtle  ord- 
er ;)  in  the  other  it  is  presented  more  frequently  to  the  heart, 
to  the  affections,  to  the  imitation,  to  the  fancy,  and  to  all  the 
faculties  of  the  soul.  In  early  youth,  which  is  so  applied  to 
with  those  compilations,  an  association  takes  place  between 
religion  and  intellect,  and  a  divorcement  of  religion  from  the 
other  powers  of  the  inner  man.  This  derangement,  judging 
from  observation  and  experience,  it  is  exceeding  difficult  to 
put  to  rights  in  after  life  ;  and  so  it  comes  to  pass,  that,  in 
listening  to  the  oracles  of  religion,  the  intellect  is  chiefly 
awake,  and  the  better  parts  of  the  message — those  which  ad- 
dress the  heart  and  its  affections,  those  which  dilate  and  en- 
large our  imaginations  of  the  Godhead,  and  those  which 
speak  to  the  various  sympathies  of  our  nature — we  are,  by 
the  injudicious  use  of  these  narrow  epitomes,  disqualified  to 
receive. 

In  the  train  of  these  comes  Controversy,  with  his  rough 
voice  and  unmeek  aspect,  to  disqualify  the  soul  for  a  full  and 
fair  audience  of  its  Maker's  word.  The  points  of  the  faith  we 
have  been  called  on  to  defend,  or  which  are  reputable  with 
our  party,  assume  in  our  esteem  an  importance  dispropor- 
tionate to  their  importance  in  the  Word,  which  we  come  to 
relish  chiefly  when  it  goes  to  sustain  them,  and  the  Bible  is 
hunted  for  arguments  and  texts  of  controversy,  which  are 
treasured  up  for  future  service.  The  solemn  stillness  which 
the  soul  should  hold  before  his  Maker,  so  favourable  to  me- 
ditation and  wrapt  communion  with  the  throne  of  God,  is 
destroyed  at  every  turn,  by  suggestion  of  what  is  orthodox 
and  evangelical — where  all  is  orthodox  and  evangelical ;  the 
spirit  of  such  readers  becomes  lean,  being  fed  with  abstract 
truths  and  formal  propositions ;  their  temper  uncongenial, 
being  ever  disturbed  with  controversial  suggestions  ;  their 
prayers  undevout  recitals  of  their  opinions  ;  their  discourse 
technical  announcements  of  their  faith.  Intellect,  cold  intel- 
lect, hath  the  sway  over  heaven-ward  devotion  and  holy  fer- 
vours. Man,  contentious  man,  hath  the  attention  which  the 
unsearchable  God  should  undivided  have  ;  and  the  fine  full 


20        PREPARATION  FOR  CONSULTING 

harmony  of  Heaven's  melodious  voice,  which,  heard  apart, 
were  sufficient  to  lap  the  soul  in  ecstasies  unspeakable,  is 
jarred  and  interfered  with  ;  and  the  heavenly  spell  is  broken 
by  the  recurring  conceits,  sophisms,  and  passions  of  men. 
Now  truly,  an  utter  degradation  it  is  of  the  Godhead  to 
have  his  word  in  league  with  that  of  any  man,  or  any  coun- 
cil of  men.  What  matter  to  me  whether  the  Pope,  or  any 
work  of  any  mind  be  exalted  to  the  equality  of  God  ?  If  any 
helps  are  to  be  imposed  for  the  understanding,  or  safe-guard- 
ing, or  sustaining  of  the  word,  why  not  the  help  of  statues 
and  pictures  for  my  devotion  ?  Therefore,  while  the  warm 
fancies  of  the  Southerns  have  given  their  idolatry  to  the 
ideal  forms  of  noble  art — let  us  Northerns  beware  we  give 
not  our,  idolatry  to  the  cold  and  coarse  abstractions  of  human 
intellect. 

For  the  pre-occupations  of  worldly  minds — they  are  not 
to  be  reckoned  up,  being  manifold  as  their  favourite  passions 
and  pursuits.  One  thing  only  can  be  said — that  before 
coming  to  the  oracles  of  God,  they  are  not  pre-occupied 
with  the  expectation  and  fear  of  Him.  No  chord  in  their 
heart  is  in  unison  with  things  unseen  ;  no  moments  are  set 
apart  for  religious  thought  and  meditation ;  no  anticipations 
of  the  honoured  interview  ;  no  prayers  of  preparation,  like 
that  of  Daniel,  before  Gabriel  was  sent  to  teach  him  ;  no  de- 
voutness  like  that  of  Cornelius,  before  the  celestial  visitation ; 
no  fastings  like  that  of  Peter,  before  the  revelation  of  the 
glory  of  the  Gentiles !  Now,  to  minds  which  are  not  attuned 
to  holiness,  the  words  of  God  find  no  entrance — striking  heavy 
on  the  ear,  seldom  making  way  to  the  understanding — almost 
never  to  the  heart.  To  spirits  hot  with  conversation,  per- 
haps heady  with  argument,  uncoro posed  by  solemn  thought, 
but  ruffled  and  in  uproar  from  the  concourse  of  worldly  in- 
terests— the  sacred  page  may  be  spread  out,  but  its  accents 
are  drowned  in  the  noise  which  hath  not  yet  subsided  within 
the  breast.  All  the  awe,  and  pathos,  and  awakened  con- 
sciousness of  a  divine  approach,  impressed  upon  the  ancients 
by  the  procession  of  solemnities — is  to  worldly  men  without 
a  substitute.  They  have  not  solicited  themselves  to  be  in 
readiness.  In  a  usual  mood  and  a  vulgar  frame  they 
come  to  God's  word,  as  to  other  compositions — reading  it 
without  any  active  imaginations  about  Him  who  speaks  ; 
feeling  no  awe  of  a  sovereign  Lord,  nor  care  of  a  tender 
Father,  nor  devotion  to  a  merciful  Saviour.  Nowise  de- 
pressed themselves  out  of  their  wonted  independence — nor 
humiliated  before  the  King  of  kings — no  prostrations  of  the 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  SI 

soul — nor  falling  at  his  feet  as  dead — no  exclamation,  as  of 
Isaiah,  "  Woe  is  me,  for  I  am  of  unclean  lips!" — nor  suit, 
"  Send  me  ;" — nor  fervent  ejaculation  of  welcome,  as  of 
Samuel  "  Lord,  speak,  for  thy  servant  heareth  !"  Truly  they 
feel  towards  his  word,  much  as  to  the  word  of  an  equal.  No 
wonder  it  should  fail  of  happy  influence  upon  spirits  which 
have,  as  it  were,  on  purpose,  disquahfied  themselves  for  its 
benefits,  by  removing  from  the  regions  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing, which  it  accords  with,  into  other  regions,  which  it  is  of 
too  severe  dignity  to  affect,  otherwise  than  with  stern  menace 
and  direful  foreboding  !  If  they  would  have  it  bless  them,  and 
do  them  good,  they  must  change  their  manner  of  approach- 
ing it ;  and  endeavour  to  bring  themselves  into  that  prepared 
and  collected  and  reverential  frame  which  becomes  an  inter- 
view with  the  High  and  Holy  One  who  inhabiteth  the  praises 
of  eternity. 

Having  thus  spoken  without  equivocation,  and  we  hope 
without  offence,  to  the  contractedness  and  pre-occupation 
with  which  Christians  and  worldly  men  are  apt  to  come  to 
the  perusal  of  the  word  of  God,  we  shall  now  set  forth  the 
two  master  feelings  under  which  we  should  address  our- 
selves to  the  sacred  occupation. 

It  is  a  good  custom  inherited  from  the  hallowed  days  of 
Scottish  piety,  and  in  our  cottages  still  preserved,  though  in 
our  cities  generally  given  up,  to  preface  the  morning  and 
evening  worship  of  the  family  with  a  short  invocation  of 
blessing  from  the  Lord.  This  is  in  unison  with  the  practice 
and  recommendation  of  pious  men,  never  to  open  the  divine 
Word  without  a  silent  invocation  of  the  divine  Spirit.  But 
no  address  to  Heaven  is  of  any  virtue,  save  as  it  is  the  ex- 
pression of  certain  pious  sentiments  with  which  the  mind  is 
full  and  overflowing.  Of  those  sentiments  which  befit  the 
mind  that  comes  into  conference  with  its  Maker,  the  first 
and  most  prominent  should  be  gratitude  for  his  having  ever 
condescended  to  hold  commerce  with  such  wretched  arid 
fallen  creatures.  Gratitude  not  only  expressing  itself  in 
proper  terms,  but  possessing  the  mind  with  an  abiding  and 
over-mastering  mood,  under  which  it  shall  sit  impressed  the 
whole  duration  of  the  interview.  Such  an  emotion  as  can- 
not utter  itself  in  language — though  by  language  it  indicate 
its  presence — but  keeps  us  in  a  devout  and  adoring  frame, 
while  the  Lord  is  uttering  his  voice.  Go,  visit  a  desolate 
widow  with  consolation  and  help  and  fatherhood  of  her  or- 
phan children — do  it  again  and  again — and  your  presence, 
the  sound  of  your  approaching  footstep,  the  soft  utterance  of 

4 


f>%  PREPARATION  FOB  CONSULTING 

your  voice,  the  very  mention  of  your  name — shall  come  to 
dilate  her  heart  with  a  fulness  which  defies  her  tongue  to 
utter,  but  speaks  by  the  tokens  of  a  swimming  eye,  and 
clasped  hands,  and  fervent  ejaculations  to  Heaven  upon  your 
head !  No  less  copious  acknowledgment  to  God,  the  author 
of  our  well-being  and  the  father  of  our  better  hopes,  ought 
we  to  feel  when  his  Word  discloseth  to  us  the  excesses  of 
his  love.  Though  a  veil  be  now  cast  over  the  Majesty 
which  speaks,  it  is  the  voice  of  the  Eternal  which  we  hear, 
coming  in  soft  cadences  to  win  our  favour,  yet  omnipotent 
as  the  voice  of  the  thunder,  and  overpowering  as  the  rushing 
of  many  waters.  And  though  the  veil  of  the  future  inter- 
vene between  our  hand  and  the  promised  goods,  still  are 
they  from  His  lips,  who  speaks  and  it  is  done,  who  com- 
mands and  all  things  stand  fast.  With  no  less  emotion 
therefore  should  this  book  be  opened  than  if,  like  him  in  the 
Apocalypse,  you  saw  the  voice  which  spake  ;  or  like  him  in 
the  trance,  you  were,  into  the  third  heavens  translated,  com- 
panying  and  communing  with  the  realities  of  glory,  which 
eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  the  heart  of  man  con- 
ceived. ' 

Far  and  foreign  from  such  an  opened  and  awakened  bosom 
is  that  cold  and  formal  hand  which  is  generally  laid  upon 
the  sacred  volume  ;  that  unfeeling  and  unimpressive  lone 
with  which  its  accents  are  pronounced  ;  and  that  listless  and 
incurious  ear  into  which  its  blessed  sounds  are  received. 
How  can  you,  thus  unimpassioned,  hold  communion  with 
themes  in  which  every  thing  awful,  vital,  and  endearing,  do 
meet  together  !  Why  is  not  curiosity,  curiosity  ever  hungry, 
on  edge  to  know  the  doings  and  intentions  of  Jehovah  King 
of  kings?  Why  is  not  interest,  interest  ever  awake,  on  tiptoe 
to  hear  the  future  destiny  of  itself?  Why  is  not  the  heart 
that  panteth  over  the  world  after  love  and  friendship,  over- 
powered with  the  full  tide  of  the  divine  acts  and  expressions 
of  love  ?  Where  is  Nature  gone  when  she  is  not  moved  with 
the  tender  mercy  of  Christ  ?  Methinks  the  affections  of  men 
are  fallen  into  the  yellow  leaf.  Of  your  poets  which  charm 
the  world's  ear,  who  is  he  that  inditeth  a  song  unto  his  God  ? 
Some  will  tune  their  harps  to  sensual  pleasures,  and  by  the 
enchantment  of  their  genius  well  nigh  commend  their  unho- 
ly themes  to  the  imagination  of  saints.  Others,  to  the  high 
and  noble  sentiments  of  the  heart,  will  sing  of  domestic  joys 
and  happy  unions,  casting  around  sorrow  the  radiancy  of  vir- 
tue, and  bodying  forth,  in  undying  forms,  the  short-lived 
visions  of  joy  ]  Others  hove  enrolled  themselves  the  high 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  gS^ 

priests  of  mute  Nature's  charms,  enchanting  her  echoes  with 
their  minstrelsy,  and  peopling  her  solitudes  with  the  bright 
creatures  of  their  fancy.  But  when,  since  the  days  of  the 
blind  master  of  English  song,  hath  any  poured  forth  a  lay 
worthy  of  the  Christian  theme  ?  Nor  in  philosophy,  "  the 
palace  of  the  soul,"  have  men  been  more  mindful  of  their 
Maker.  The  flowers  of  the  garden  and  the  herbs  of  the 
field  have  their  unwearied  devotees,  crossing  the  ocean,  way- 
faring in  the  desert,  and  making  devout  pilgrimages  to  every 
region  of  Nature,  for  offerings  to  their  patron  muse.  The 
rocks,  from  their  residences  among  the  clouds  to  their  deep 
rests  in  the  dark  bowels  of  the  earth,  have  a  most  bold  and 
venturous  priesthood  ;  who  see  in  their  rough  and  flinty 
faces  a  more  delectable  image  to  adore  than  in  the  revealed 
countenance  of  God.  And  the  political  welfare  of  the  world 
is  a  very  Moloch,  who  can  at  any  time  command  his  heca- 
tomb of  human  victims.  But  the  revealed  sapience  of  God, 
to  which  the  harp  of  David  and  the  prophetic  lyre  of  Isaiah 
were  strung,  the  prudence  of  God  which  the  wisest  of  men 
coveted  after,  preferring  it  to  every  gift  which  Heaven  could 
confer — and  the  eternal  Intelligence  himself  in  human  form, 
and  the  unction  of  the  Holy  One  which  abideth, — these  the 
common  heart  of  man  hath  forsaken,  and  refused  to  be 
charmed  withal. 

I  testify,  that  there  ascendeth  not  from  earth,  a  Hosannah 
of  her  children  to  bear  witness  in  the  ear  of  the  upper  re- 
gions to  the  wonderful  manifestations  of  her  God  !  From  a 
few  scattered  hamlets,  in  a  small  portion  of  her  wide  terri- 
tory, a  small  voice  ascendeth  like  the  voice  of  one  crying 
in  the  wilderness.  But  to  the  service  of  ouj  general  Preser- 
ver there  is  no  concourse,  from  Dan  unto  Beersheba,  of  our 
people  ;  the  greater  part  of  whom,  after  two  thousand  years 
of  apostolic  commission,  know  not  the  testimonies  of  our 
God;  and  the  multitude  of  those  who  do,  reject  or  despise 
them! 

But,  to  return  from  this  lamentation,  which,  may  God 
hear,  who  doth  not  disregard  the  cries  of  his  afflicted  peo- 
ple !  With  the  full  sense  of  obligation  to  the  Giver,  combine 
a  humble  sense  of  your  own  incapacity  to  value  and  to  use 
the  gift  of  his  Oracles.  Having  no  taste  whatever  for  the 
mean  estimates  which  are  made,  and  the  coarse  invectives 
that  are  vented  against  human  nature,  which  though  true  in 
the  main,  are  often  in  the  manner  so  unfeeling  and  trium- 
phant, as  to  reveal  hot  zeal,  rather  than  tender  and  deep  sor- 
row, we  will  not  give  in  to  this  popular  strain.     And  yet  it 


24r  PREPARATION  FOR  CONSULTING 

is  a  truth,  by  experience  revealed,  that  though  there  be  in 
man  most  noble  faculties,  and  a  nature  restless  after  the 
knowledge  and  truth  of  things — there  are,  towards  God,  and 
his  revealed  will,  an  indisposition  and  a  regardlessness, 
which  the  most  tender  and  enlightened  consciences  are  the 
most  ready  to  acknowledge.  Of  our  emancipated  youth 
who  bound  after  the  knowkdge  of  the  visible  works  of  God, 
and  the  gratification  of  the  various  instincts  of  nature,  how 
few  betake  themselves  at  all,  how  few  absorb  themselves 
with  the  study  and  obedience  of  the  word  of  God  !  And 
when,  by  God's  visitation,  we  address  ourselves  to  the  task, 
how  slow  is  our  progress  and  how  imperfect  our  perform- 
ance !  It  is  most  true  that  Nature  is  unwilling  to  the  subject 
of  the  Scriptures.  The  soul  is  previously  possessed  with 
adverse  interests;  the  world  hath  laid  an  embargo  upon  her 
faculties,  and  monopolized  them  to  herself;  old  Habit  hath 
perhaps  added  his  almost  incurable  callousness  ;  and  the 
enemy  of  God  and  man  is  skilful  to  defend  what  he  hath 
already  won.  So  circumstanced,  and  every  man  is  so  cir- 
cumstanced, we  come  to  the  audience  of  the  word  of  God, 
and  listen  in  worse  tune  than  a  wanton  to  a  sermon,  or  a  har- 
dened knave  to  a  judicial  address.  Our  vmderstanding  is 
prepossessed  with  a  thousand  idols  either  of  the  world  reli- 
gious or  irreligious — which  corrupt  the  reading  of  the  word 
into  a  straining  of  the  text  to  their  service  ;  and  when  it  will 
not  strain,  cause  it  to  be  skimmed,  and  perhaps  despised,  or 
hated.  Such  a  thing  as  a  free  and  unlimited  reception  of  all 
the  parts  of  Scripture  into  the  mind,  is  a  thing  most  rare  to 
be  met  with,  and  when  met  with,  will  be  found  the  result  of 
many  a  sore  submission  of  Nature's  opinions,  as  well  as  of 
Nature's  likings. 

But  the  Word,  as  hath  been  said,  is  not  for  the  intellect 
alone,  but  for  the  heart,  and  for  the  will.  Now  if  any  one 
be  so  wedded  to  his  own  candour  as  to  think  he  doth  accept 
the  divine  truth  unabated — surely  no  one  will  flatter  him- 
self into  the  belief  that  his  heart  is  already  attuned  and  en- 
larged for  all  divine  affections,  or  his  will  in  readiness  for  all 
divine  commandments.  The  man  who  thus  misdeems  of 
himself,  must,  if  his  opinion  were  just,  be  like  a  sheet  of 
fair  paper,  unblotted,  unwritten  on  ;  whereas  all  men  are  al- 
ready occupied,  to  very  fulness,  with  other  opinions,  and  at- 
tachments, and  desires,  than  the  Word  reveals.  We  do  not 
grow  Christians  by  the  same  culture  by  which  we  grow  men, 
otherwise — what  need  of  divine  revelation,  and  divine  as- 
sistance ^    But  being  unacquainted  from  the  womb  with 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  25 

God,  and  attached  to  what  is  seen  and  felt,  through  early 
and  close  acquaintance,  we  are  ignorant  and  detached  from 
what  is  unseen  and  unfelt.  The  Word  is  a  novelty  to  our 
nature,  its  truths  fresh  truths,  it  affections  fresh  affections, 
its  obedience  a  new  obedience,  which  have  to  master  and 
put  down  the  truths,  affections,  and  obedience  gathered  from 
the  apprehension  of  Nature,  and  the  commerce  of  worldly 
life.  Therefore,  there  needeth,  in  one  that  would  be  served 
from  this  storehouse  of  truth  opened  by  heaven,  a  disrelish 
of  his  old  acquisitions,  and  a  preference  of  the  new,  a  sim- 
ple, child-like  teachableness,  an  allowance  of  ignorance  and 
error,  with  whatever  else  beseems  an  anxious  learner. — 
Coming  to  the  word  of  God,  we  are  like  children  brought 
into  the  conversations  of  experienced  men  ;  and  we  should 
humbly  listen  and  reverently  inquire :  or  we  are  like  raw 
rustics  introduced  into  high  and  polished  life,  and  we  should 
unlearn  our  coarseness,  and  copy  the  habits  of  the  station  : — 
nay,  we  are  like  offenders  caught,  and  for  amendment  com- 
mitted to  the  bosom  of  honourable  society,  with  the  power 
of  regaining  our  lost  condition,  and  inheriting  honour  and 
trust — therefore  we  should  walk  softly  and  tenderly,  cover- 
ing our  former  reproach  with  modesty  and  humbleness, 
hasting  to  redeem  our  reputation  by  distinguished  perform- 
ances, against  offence  doubly  guarded,  doubly  watchful  for 
dangerous  and  extreme  positions,  to  demonstrate  our  reco- 
vered goodness. 

These  two  sentiments — devout  veneration  of  God  for  his 
unspeakable  gift,  and  deep  distrust  of  our  own  capacity  to 
estimate  and  use  it  aright — will  generate  in  the  mind  a  con- 
stant aspiration  after  the  guidance  and  instruction  of  a 
Higher  Power.  The  first  sentiment  of  goodness  remem- 
bered, emboldening  us  to  draw  near  to  Him  w^ho  first  drew 
near  to  us,  and  who  with  Christ  will  not  refuse  us  any  gift. 
The  second  sentiment,  of  weakness  remembered,  teaching 
us  our  need,  and  prompting  us  by  every  interest  of  religion 
and  every  feeling  of  helplessness  to  seek  of  him  who  hath 
said,  "  If  any  one  lack  wisdom  let  him  ask  of  God,  who 
giveth  liberally  and  upbraideth  not."  The  soul  which  under 
these  two  master  feelings  cometh  to  read,  shall  not  read 
without  profit.  Every  new  revelation,  feeding  his  gratitude 
and  nourishing  his  sense  of  former  ignorance,  will  confirm 
the  emotions  he  is  under,  and  carry  them  onward  to  an  un- 
limited dimension.  Such  a  one  will  prosper  in  the  wav  ; 
enlargement  of  the  inner  man  will  be  his  portion,  and  es- 
tablishment in  the  truth  his  exceeding  great  reward  ;  affec- 


26  PREPARATIOJf  IFOR  CONSULTING 

tion  to  the  Godhead  will  lead  him  on  ;  and  the  strength 
which  sustaineth  the  humble  will  be  his  reward.  "  In  the 
strength  of  the  Lord  shall  his  right  hand  get  victory — even 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  His  soul  also  shall  flourish 
with  the  fruits  of  righteousness  from  the  seed  of  the  Word, 
which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever," 

Thus  delivered  from  prepossessions  of  all  other  masters, 
and  arrayed  in  the  raiment  of  humility  and  love,  the  soul 
should  advance  to  the  meeting  of  her  God ;  and  she  should 
call  a  muster  of  all  her  faculties,  and  have  all  her  poor  graces 
in  attendance,  and  any  thing  she  knows  of  his  excellent  works 
and  exalted  ways  she  should  summon  up  to  her  remembrance: 
her  understanding  she  should  quicken,  her  memory  refresh, 
her  imagination  stimulate,  her  affections  cherish,  and  her 
conscience  arouse.  All  that  is  within  her  should  be  stirred 
up,  her  whole  glory  should  awake  and  her  whole  beauty  dis- 
play itself  for  the  meeting  of  her  King.  As  his  hand-maiden 
she  should  meet  him  ;  his  own  handy-work,  though  sore  de- 
faced, yet  seeking  restoration  ;  his  humble,  because  offend- 
ing servant — yet  nothing  slavish,  though  humble — nothing 
superstitious,  though  devout — nothing  tame,  though  modest 
in  her  demeanour ;  but  quick,  and  ready,  all  addressed  and 
wound  up  for  her  Maker's  will. 

How  different  the  ordinary  proceeding  of  Christians,  who 
with  timorous,  mistrustful  spirits  j  with  an  abeyance  of  in- 
tellect, and  a  dwarfish  reduction  of  their  natural  powers  ; 
enter  to  the  conference  of  the  word  of  God !  The  natural 
powers  of  man  are  to  be  mistrusted,  doubtless,  as  the  willing- 
instruments  of  the  evil  one  ;  but  they  must  be  honoured  also 
as  the  necessary  instruments  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  whose  ope- 
ration is  a  dream,  if  it  be  not  through  knowledge,  intellect, 
conscience,  and  action.  Now  Christians  heedless  of  this 
grand  resurrection  of  the  mighty  instruments  of  thought  and 
action,  at  the  same  time  coveting  hard  after  holy  attainments, 
do  often  resign  the  mastery  of  themselves,  and  are  taken  into 
the  counsel  of  the  religious  world — whirling  around  the  eddy 
of  some  popular  leader — and  so  drifted,  I  will  not  say  from 
godliness,  but  drifted  certainly  from  that  noble,  manly,  and 
independent  course,  which,  under  steerage  of  the  word  of 
God,  they  might  have  safely  pursued  for  the  precious  inte- 
rests of  their  immortal  souls.  Meanwhile  these  popular* 
leaders,  finding  no  necessity  for  strenuous  endeavours  and 
high  science  in  the  ways  of  God,  but  having  a  gathering  host 
to  follow  them,  deviate  from  the  ways  of  deep  and  penetrat- 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  27 

ing  thought — refuse  the  contest  with  the  literary  and  accom- 
plished enemies  of  the  faith — bring  a  contempt  upon  the 
cause  in  which  mighty  men  did  formerly  gird  themselves  to 
the  combat — and  so  cast  the  stumbling-block  of  a  mistaken 
paltriness  between  enlightened  men  and  the  cross  of  Christ ! 
So  far  from  this  simple-mindedness  (but  its  proper  name  is 
feeble-mindedness)  Christians  should  be — as  aforetime  in 
this^  island  they  were  wont  to  be — the  princes  of  human  intel- 
lect, the  lights  of  the  world,  the  salt  of  the  political  and  so- 
cial state.  Till  they  come  forth  from  the  swaddling  bands 
in  which  foreign  schools  have  girt  them,  and  walk  boldly 
upon  the  high  places  of  human  understanding,  they  shall 
never  obtain  that  influence  in  the  upper  regions  of  knowledge 
and  power  of  which  unfortunately  they  have  not  the  apos- 
tolic unction  to  be  in  quest.  They  will  never  be  the  master 
and  commanding  spirits  of  the  time,  until  they  cast  off 
the  wrinkled  and  withered  skin  of  an  obsolete  age,  and 
clothe  themselves  with  intelligence  as  with  a  garment,  and 
bring  forth  the  fruits  of  power  and  of  love  and  of  a  sound 
mind. 

Mistake  us  not,  for  we  steer  in  a  narrow,  very  narrow 
channel,  with  rocks  of  popular  prejudice  on  every  side. 
While  we  thus  invocate  to  the  reading  of  the  Word,  the 
highest  strains  of  the  human  soul,  mistake  us  not  as  derogat- 
ing from  the  office  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Far  be  it  from  any 
Christian,  much  farther  from  any  Christian  pastor,  to  with- 
draw from  God  the  honour  which  is  every  where  his  due, 
but  there,  most  of  all  his  due  where  the  human  mind  labour- 
ed alone  for  thousands  of  years,  and  laboured  with  no  suc- 
cess— viz.  the  regeneration  of  itself,  and  its  restoration  to 
the  lost  semblance  of  the  divinity. — Oh  !  let  him  be  reve- 
rently inquired  after,  devoutly  waited  on,  and  most  thank- 
fully acknowledged  in  every  step  of  progress  from  the  soul's 
fresh  awakening  out  of  her  dark  oblivious  sleep — even  to  her 
ultimate  attainment  upon  earth  and  full  accomplishment  for 
heaven.  And  that  there  may  be  a  fuller  choir  of  awakened 
men  to  advance  his  honour  and  glory  here  on  earth — and 
hereafter  in  heaven  above — let  the  saints  bestir  themselves 
like  angels,  and  the  ministers  of  religion  like  archangels 
strong  ! — And  now  at  length  let  us  have  a  demonstration 
made  of  all  that  is  noble  in  thought,  and  generous  in  action, 
and  devoted  in  piety,  for  bestirring  this  lethargic  age,  and 
breaking  the  bands  of  hell,  and  redeeming  the  whole  world 
to  the  service  of  its  God  and  King  ! 


S8      PREPARATION  FOR  CONSULTING,  &C. 

As  He  doth  know  this  to  be  the  desire  and  aim  of  the 
preceding  Discourse,  so  may  he  prosper  it  to  the  salvation  of 
many  souls,  that  to  his  poor  servant,  covered  over  with 
iniquities,  may  derive  the  forgiveness  and  honour  of  those 
who  turn  many  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power 
of  Satan  to  the  service  of  the  living  God. 


ORATION  II. 


JOHN  V.  39.    SEARCtt  THE  SCHIPTCREf. 


THE  MANNER  OF  CONSULTING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD. 


God,  being  ever  willing  and  ever  ready  to  second  and 
succeed  his  Word,  and  having  a  most  longing  anxiety  for  the 
recovery  of  all  men  j  when  his  Word  fails  of  converting  the 
soul  ('as  it  doth  too  often),  that  failure  cannot  be  due  to  any 
omission  upon  his  part,  but  to  some  omission  or  transgres- 
sion upon  ours.  If  any  one,  however,  incline  to  refer  the 
failure  to  a  want  of  willingness,  or  a  withholding  of  power, 
upon  the  part  of  God,  whereof  it  is  not  given  unto  man  to 
discover  or  remove  the  cause — then  in  this  his  opinion,  such 
a  one  must  needs  remain  beyond  the  reach  of  help.  If  he 
think  that,  notwithstanding  of  revelation,  we  are  yet  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  putting  forth  of  divine  power — that  in  a  sin- 
ner's conversion  there  is  an  element  still  undisclosed — that 
the  information  delivered  in  the  Scriptures  is  not  enough, 
and  the  means  there  prescribed  not  adequate,  and  the  divine 
blessing  there  promised  not  to  be  surely  calculated  on  :  but 
that  over  and  beyond  all,  there  is  something  to  be  tarried 
for — then,  for  one  so  opinioned,  there  is  nothing  but  to  tarry. 
For,  except  by  what  is  revealed  how  are  the  councils  of  the 
Eternal  known  ?  and  if  revelation  do  not  discover  the  way 
in  which  God  may  assuredly  be  found,  what  mortal  or  im- 
mortal can  ? — and  if  there  be  a  gap  between  our  present  habi- 
tations and  the  Holiest  of  all,  who  can  fill  it  up  ?  and  if  one 
possessed  of  all  God's  revelations  do  still  hold  himself  unac- 
complished for  the  finding  of  God,  who  in  heaven  or  earth 
can  help  him  ? — and,  in  short,  if  employing  God's  revelation 
as  God  himself  directs  it  to  be  employed,  and  in  the  spirit 
proper  to  each  taking  every  measure  therein  appointed,  we 
may  nevertheless  be  remote  from  success,  and  nothing  sure 
of  our  aim,  then,  what  less  shall  we  say,  but  that  this  book, 
the  light  and  hope  of  a  fallen  world,  is  an  idle  meteor  which 
mocks  pursuit,  and  may  be  left  to  seek  its  way  back  into  the 
hiding  place  of  the  Almighty's  council,  from  which  it  hath 
come  forth  to  man  in  vain  ! 

5 


so  MANNER  OF  CONSULTING 

But  if,  upon  the  other  hand,  any  one  believe  that  God's 
favour  Cometh  not  at  random,  nor  by  a  way  unknown,  but 
may  be  calculated  on  in  the  way  that  God  himself  hath  re- 
vealed it  to  proceed,  and  doth  distil  like  the  dew  falling  un- 
seen, and  rest  upon  every  one  who  longeth  after  it,  any  who 
believes  that  our  backward  state  comethrnot  of  any  darkness 
in  the  Word,  or  abstinence  in  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  of  our 
own  withdrawing  from  the  light  and  fighting  against  the 
truth — who  giveth  to  God  thankfulness  and  praise,  taking  to 
himself  all  the  blame — then,  with  such  a  one,  we  are  happy 
we  can  freely  discourse,  and,  by  God's  blessing,  we  hope  to 
help  him  onward  in  the  way  everlasting. 

Yet,  for  the  sake  of  disabusing  the  others  who  stand  look- 
ing for  a  dawning  they  know  not  whence  nor  when,  let  me 
interrogate  any  Christian,  how  he  won  his  way  from  former 
darkness  to  present  light  ?  Not  by  knowledge  alone  of  what 
the  Word  contains.  True.  By  what  then  ?  by  earnest 
prayer.  But  what  taught  him,  what  encouraged  him  to 
pray  ?  Was  it  not  certain  revelations  in  the  Word  ?  Not  by 
confidence  in  his  knowledge  or  his  strength,  but  by  distrust 
of  both.  True.  But  what  taught  him  to  distrust  himself? 
Was  it  not  certain  revelations  in  the  Word  ?  Not  by  bold 
and  urgent  endeavours  of  his  own,  but  by  humble  endeavours 
rested  upon  hope  of  heavenly  aid.  True.  But  what  taught 
him  to  bridle  his  impetuosity  and  expect  superior  aid  ?  Was 
it  not  certain  revelations  in  the  Word  ?  And,  to  sum  up  all, 
how  doth  that  Christian  know,  save  by  the  image  of  righte- 
ousness revealed  in  the  Word,  that  he  is  not  yet  in  the  bon- 
dage of  his  sins,  but  standeth  sure  in  the  liberty  of  Christ  ? 
Why  then,  in  the  name  of  plain  and  honest  dealing,  will  you 
hesitate  to  acknowledge  and  asseverate  for  the  behoof  of 
lingering  and  mistrustful  men,  that  in  God's  revelations, 
rightly  used,  there  is  a  reservoir  of  knowledge  and  direc- 
tion, ample  enough  to  feed  the  famished  spirit  of  the  world, 
whence  every  sinner  may  derive  to  himself  a  satisfying  stream 
to  refresh  his  present  faintness,  and  to  follow  his  footsteps 
through  the  tedious  wilderness  of  life. 

Therefore  do  we  feel  upon  a  useful  and  a  hopeful  topic, 
while  we  endeavour  to  discover  what  it  is  which  hinders  the 
Scripture  from  its  full  efficacy  in  deriving  to  us  who  search 
them  the  regeneration  of  our  souls,  and  their  renewal  in  the 
whole  image  of  God. 

And  without  recurring  to  what  hath  been  already  said  of 
the  PREPARATION  ueccssary  for  perusing  aright  the  Word 
of  God,  we  come  at  once  to  the  perusal  itself,  and  shall  now, 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  31 

not  without  much  distrust  of  our  own,  and  intercession  for 
heavenly  power,  endeavour  to  take  account  of  the  spirit  and 
style  in  which  it  is  wont  to  be  perused  amongst  us,  and  of 
the  spirit  and  style  in  which  it  ought  to  be  perused.  And 
being  conscious  that  we  have  many  convictions,  to  express 
which  chime  not  in  with  the  temper  of  the  times,  and  some 
sayings  hard  to  be  received  by  Christians  discipled  in  mo- 
dern schools,  we  ask  your  patience  and  Christian  courtesy, 
and  pray  God  for  your  consent  and  approbation. 

The  more  ignorant  sort  of  men,  who  entertain  religion  by 
a  kind  of  hereditary  reverence,  as  they  do  any  other  custom, 
take  up  the  Word  of  God  at  stated  seasons,  and  afflict  their 
spirits  with  the  task  of  perusing  it,  and,  to  judge  from  a  va- 
cant face  and  an  unawakened  tone,  and  a  facility  of  enduring 
interruption,  it  is  often  as  truly  inflicted  upon  the  soul  as 
ever  penance  was  upon  the  flesh  of  a  miserable  monk.  Or, 
upon  another  occasion,  when  one  beholds  mirth  and  joculari- 
ty at  once  go  dumb  for  an  act  of  worship,  and  revive  again 
with  fresh  glee  when  the  act  is  over,  one  cannot  help  believ- 
ing that  it  hath  been  task-work  with  many,  if  not  with  all. 
Holding  of  the  same  superstition  is  the  practice  of  drawing 
to  the  Word  in  sickness,  affliction,  and  approaching  dissolu- 
tion, as  if  a  charm  against  the  present  evil,  or  an  invocation 
of  the  future  good.  Against  these  and  all  other  mortifica- 
tions it  were  enough  to  quote  that  weighty  sentence  of  Job, 
"  Can  a  man  be  profitable  to  God,  as  one  that  is  wise  is  pro- 
fitable unto  himself ;  or  is  it  any  profit  to  the  Almighty  that 
thou  makest  thy  ways  perfect  ?"  It  is  well  pleasing  to  him 
that  his  word  is  honoured,  and  that  his  name  is  magnified  by 
the  intelligent  creatures  which  his  hand  hath  formed  ;  but  he 
cannot  endure  to  be  approached  with  mere  form,  or  served 
out  of  constraint.  It  is  to  be  preferred  above  the  creatures 
which  he  hath  made  that  delights  him  ;  and  to  reign  su- 
premely in  the  soul ;  at  all  times  to  be  held  in  reverence, 
and  over  all  our  actions  to  preside.  The  want  of  will  to  his 
service,  or  impatience  in  its  performance,  or  joy  when  it  is 
over,  converts  it  into  contempt,  the  more  hateful  because  it 
is  covered.  The  weakness  and  imperfections  of  our  nature 
he  will  overlook,  and,  if  besought,  will  by  his  Spirit  remove ; 
but  guile  and  disguise  and  all  hypocrisies  his  soul  hateth, 
and  cannot  away  with.  And  for  studying  his  will,  it  is  of 
no  importance  save  to  perform  it  in  the  face  of  all  opposition 
from  within  and  from  without ;  therefore,  of  all  seasons, 
sickness  and  affliction — when  we  are  disabled  from  action, 
and  in  part  also  from  thought — is,  it  seems  to  me,  the  sea- 


32  .  MANNER  OF  CONSULTING 

son  Icait  proper  for  the  perusal  of  the  Word.  If  it  cannot 
overmaster  us  when  we  are  clothed  in  all  our  strength,  then 
it  is  a  poor  victory  to  overcome  us  when  disease  hath  alrea- 
dy prostrated  our  better  faculties.  Then  chiefly  to  take 
concern  about  the  name  and  the  word  of  God,  is  a  symptom 
of  our  weakness,  not  of  our  devotion.  Take  heed  then  ye 
present  to  the  Lord  no  lame  nor  maimed  offerings,  or  put 
off  your  allegiance  with  well-timed  and  well-mannered  acts 
of  occasional  attendance  ;  or  think  to  satisfy  Him  with  pain- 
ful instances  of  self-denial,  who  is  only  gratified  when  the 
service  of  his  creatures  goes  with  all  their  heart  and  soul, 
and  yields  to  them  the  height  of  self-enjoyment. 

From  this  extreme  of  narrow  and  enforced  attendance 
upon  the  Word  of  God,  there  are  many  who  run  into  the 
other  extreme  of  constant  consultation,  and  cannot  pass 
an  evening  together  in  conversation  or  enjoyment  of  any 
kind,  but  call  for  the  Bible  and  the  exposition  of  its 
truths  by  an  able  hand.  That  it  becomes  a  family  night  and 
morning  to  peruse  the  word — and  that  it  becomes  men  to 
assemble  themselves  together  to  hear  it  expounded — is  a 
truth ',  while  at  the  same  time  it  is  no  less  a  truth,  that  it  is 
a  monkish  custom,  and  a  most  ignorant  slavery,  to  under- 
value all  intellectual,  moral,  or  refreshing  converse,  for  the 
purpose  of  hearing  some  favourite  of  the  priesthood  set 
forth  his  knowledge  or  his  experience,  though  it  be  upon  a 
holy  subject.  It  is  not  that  he  may  talk,  but  that  ive  ail  may 
talk  as  becometh  saints ;  it  is  not  that  we  may  hear  the 
naked  truth,  but  that  we  may  exhibit  our  sentiments  and 
views  of  all  subjects,  our  tempers  in  all  encounters,  to  be 
consistent  with  the  truth.  It  is  not  merely  to  try  our  pa- 
tience in  hearing,  but  to  exercise  all  our  graces,  that  we 
come  together.  Let  the  Word  be  appealed  to,  in  order  to 
justify  our  opinions  and  resolve  our  doubts.  Let  there  be 
an  occasion  worthy  of  it :  then  let  it  be  called  in.  But  it  is 
to  muzzle  free  discourse,  and  banish  useful  topics,  and  in- 
terrupt the  mind's  refreshment,  and  bring  in  upon  our  man- 
ly and  freeborn  way  of  life,  the  slavishness  of  a  devotee,  the 
coldness  of  a  hermitage,  and  the  formality  of  cloistered  can- 
ons, thus  to  abolish  the  healthful  pulses  of  unconstrained 
companionship,  and  the  free  disclosures  of  friendship,  and 
the  closer  communion  and  fellowship  of  saints.  Yet  though 
thus  we  protest  against  the  formality  and  deadness  of  such  a 
custom,  we  are  not  prepared  to  condemn  it,  if  it  proceed 
from  a  pure  thirst  after  divine  teaching.  If  in  private  we 
have  a  still  stronger  relish  for  it  than  in  the  company  of  our 
friends — if  in  silent  study  we  love  its  lessons  no  less  tha?i 


THE  ORACLES  OP  GOD.  33 

from  the  lips  of  our  favourite  pastor — then  let  the  custom 
have  free  course,  and  let  the  Word  be  studied  whenever  we 
have  opportunity,  and  whenever  we  can  go  to  it  with  a  com- 
mon consent. 

Against  these  two  methods  of  communing  with  the  word 
of  God,  whereof  the  one  springs  from  the  religious  timidity 
of  the  world,  the  other  from  the  religious  timidity  of  Chris- 
tians ;  the  one  a  penance,  the  other  a  weakness ;  we  have 
litde  fear  of  carrying  your  judgments  :  but  you  will  be 
alarmed  when  we  carry  our  censure  against  the  common 
spirit,  of  dealing  with  it  as  a  duty.  Not  but  that  it  is  a  duty 
to  peruse  the  word  of  God,  but  that  it  is  something  infinitely 
higher.  Duty  means  a  verdict  of  conscience  in  its  behalf. 
Now  conscience  is  not  an  independent  power,  at  the  bidding 
of  which  the  Word  abides  to  be  opened,  and  at  its  forbidding 
to  continue  sealed — but  the  Word,  let  conscience  bid  or  for- 
bid, stands  forth  dressed  in  its  own  awful  sanctions.  "  Be- 
lieve and  live" — "  Believe  not  and  die."  If  conscience  have 
added  her  voice  also,  that  is  another  sanction,  but  a  sanction 
which  was  not  needful  to  be  superadded.  When  my  Maker 
speaks,  I  am  called  to  listen  by  a  higher  authority  than  the 
authority  of  my  own  self.  I  should  make  sure  that  it  is  my 
Maker  who  speaks — and  for  this  let  every  faculty  of  reason 
and  feeling  do  its  part ;  but  being  assured  that  it  is  no  other 
than  his  voice  omnipotent,  my  whole  soul  must  burst  forth  to 
give  him  attendance.  There  must  be  no  demur  for  any  ver- 
dict of  any  inward  principle.  Out  of  duty,  out  of  love,  out 
of  adoration,  out  of  joy,  out  of  fear,  out  of  my  whole  con- 
senting soul,  I  must  obey  my  Maker's  call.  Duty,  whose 
cold  and  artificial  verdict,  the  God  of  infinite  love  is  served 
withal,  is  a  sentiment  which  the  lowest  relationships  of  life 
are  not  content  with.  Servant  with  master — child  with 
teacher — friend  with  friend — when  it  comes  to  the  senti- 
ment of  duty,  it  is  near  its  dissolution  ;  and  it  never  thrives 
or  comes  to  good  but  when  it  rests  upon  well-tried  trust  and 
hearty  regard  ;  upon  a  love  to  our  persons,  and  a  confidence 
in  our  worth.  And  in  the  ties  of  nature,  to  parents,  to  chil- 
dren, to  brethren,  to  husband  and  wife,  there  to  be  listened 
to  out  of  cold  constraint  of  duty  argues  nature  gone  well 
nigh  dead.  There  is  a  prompter  consent,  a  deep  sympathy 
of  love,  an  over-stepping  of  all  the  limits  of  duty,  a  going 
even  unto  the  death,  which  hardly  satisfies  the  soul  of  such 
affection.  What  then  shall  we  say  of  that  closest  of  all  rela- 
tions— creature  to  Creator — which  hath  in  it  the  germ  of 
every  other :  the  parental,  for  he  formed  us  ;  the  patronal, 


84  MANNER  OF  CONSULTING 

for  he  hath  upheld  us  ;  the  friendly,  for  in  all  our  straits  he 
hath  befriended  us  ;  the  loyal,  for  our  safety  is  in  his  royal 
hand  ;  and,  which  addeth  the  attachment  to  very  self,  "for 
we  are  ourselves  his  workmanship !''  To  bind  this  tie,  no- 
thing will  suffice  but  strong  and  stubborn  necessity.  Duty, 
in  truth,  is  the  very  lowest  conception  of  it — privilege  is  a 
higher — honour  a  higher,  happiness  and  delight  a  higher 
still.  But  duty  may  be  suspended  by  more  pressing  duty — 
privilege  may  be  foregone  and  honour  forgot,  and  the  sense 
of  happiness  grow  dull;  but  this  of  listening  to  His  voice 
who  plants  the  sense  of  duty,  bestows  privilege,  honour  and 
happiness,  and  our  every  other  faculty,  is  before  all  these, 
and  is  equalled  by  nothing  but  the  stubbornest  necessity. 
We  should  hear  His  voice  as  the  sun  and  stars  do  in  their 
courses,  as  the  restful  element  of  earth  doth  in  its  settled 
habitation.  His  voice  is  our  law,  which  it  is  sacrilege,  worse 
than  rebellion,  worse  than  parental  rebellion,  to  disobey.  He 
keeps  the  bands  of  our  being  together.  His  voice  is  the  char- 
ter of  our  existence,  which  being  disobeyed,  we  should  run  to 
annihilation,  as  our  great  father  would  have  done,  had  not  God 
in  mercy  given  us  a  second  chance,  by  erecting  the  platform 
of  our  being  upon  the  new  condition  of  probation,  different 
from  thatof  all  known  existences.  Was  it  ever  heard  that  the 
sun  stopped  in  his  path,  but  it  was  God  that  commanded  ? 
Was  it  ever  heard  that  the  sea  forgot  her  instability,  and  stood 
apart  in  walled  steadfastness,  but  it  was  God  that  command- 
ed ?  Or  that  fire  forgot  to  consume,  but  at  the  voice  of  God  ? 
Even  so  man  should  seek  his  Maker's  word,  as  he  loveth  his 
well-being,  or,  like  the  unfallen  creatures  of  God,  as  he 
loveth  his  very  being — and  labour  in  his  obedience,  without 
knowing  or  wishing  to  know  aught  beyond. 

Necessity,  therefore,  I  say,  strong  and  eternal  necessity  is 
that,  which  joins  the  link  between  the  creature  and  the  Cre- 
ator, and  makes  man  incumbent  to  the  voice  of  God.  To 
read  the  Word  is  no  ordinary  duty,  but  the  mother  of  all  du- 
ty, enlig;htening  the  eyes  and  converting  the  soul,  and  creat- 
ing that  very  conscience  to  which  we  would  subject  it.  We 
take  our  meat  not  by  duty — the  body  must  go  down  to  dust 
without  it — therefore  we  persevere  because  we  love  to  exist. 
So  also  the  word  of  God  is  the  bread  of  life,  the  root  of  all 
spiritual  action,  without  which  the  soul  will  go  down,  if  not 
to  instant  annihilation,  to  the  wretched  abyss  of  spiritual  and 
eternal  death.  But  wh'Me  we  insist  that  the  Scriptures  should 
be  perused  out  of  the  sense,  not  of  an  incumbency,  but  of  a 
strong  necessity,  as  being  the  issued  orders  of  Him  who  up- 


THE  aUACLES  OF  GOD.  85 

holdeth  all  things — we  except  against  any  idea  of  painfulness 
or  force.     We  say  necessity,  to  indicate  the  strength  of  the 
obligation,  not  its  disagreeableness.     But,  in  truth,  there  is  ^ 
no  such  feeling,  but  the  very  opposite,  attached  to  every  ne- 
nessity  of  the  Lord's  appointing.     Light  is  pleasant  to  the 
eyes,  though  the  necessary  element  of  vision.     Food  is  pleas-  ^ 
ant  to  the  body,  though  the  staple  necessary  of  life.     Air  is 
refreshing  to  the  frame,  though  the  necessary  element  of  the 
breathing  spirit.     What  so  refreshing  as  the  necessary  of. 
water  to  all  animated  existence  ?     Sleep  is  the  very  balm  of 
life  to  all  creatures  under  the  sun.     Motion  is  from  infancy 
to  feeblest  age  the  most  recreating  of  things,  save  rest  after 
motion.      Every  necessary   instinct  for  preserving  or  con- 
tinuing our  existence,  hath  in  it  a  pleasure,  when  indulged 
in  moderation  ;  and  the  pain  which  attends  excess  is  the  sen- 
tinel in  the  way  of  danger,  and,  like  the  sentinel's  voice,  up- 
on the  brink  of  ruin  should  be  considered  as  the  pleasantest 
of  all,  though  withdrawing  us  from  the  fondest  pursuit.     In 
like  manner  attendance  on  God's  law,  though  necessary  to 
the  soul  as  wine  and  milk  to  the  body,  will  be  found  equally 
refreshing  :  though  necessary  as  light  to  the  eyes,  will  be 
found  equally  cheerful :  though  necessary  as  rest  to  the  weary 
limbs,   will  be   found   equally  refreshing  to  our   spiritual 
strength. 

A  duty,  which  is  at  all  times  a  duty,  is  a  necessity  ;  and 
this  listening  to  the  voice  of  God  can  at  no  time  be  dispensed 
with,  and  therefore  is  a  stark  necessity.  The  life  of  the  soul 
can  at  no  time  proceed,  without  the  present  sense  and  obe- 
dience of  its  Maker's  government.  His  law  must  be  present 
and  keep  concert  with  our  most  inward  thoughts  ;  from 
which,  as  we  can  never  dissolve  connection,  so  ought  we 
never  to  dissolve  connection  with  the  regulating  voice  of  God. 
In  all  our  rising  emotions;  in  all  our  purposes  conceiving  ; 
in  all  our  thoughtful  debates,  holden  upon  the  propriety  of 
things  J  in  all  the  secret  councils  of  the  bosom — the  law  of 
God  should  be  consentaneous  with  the  law  of  Nature,  or  ra- 
ther should  be  umpire  of  the  council,  seeing  Nature  and 
Nature's  laws  have  receded  from  the  will  of  God,  and  be- 
come blinded  to  the  best  interests  of  our  spiritual  state.  The 
world  is  apt  to  look  only  to  the  executive  part  of  conduct — 
to  the  outward  actions,  which  come  forth  from  behind  the 
curtains  of  deliberative  thought  ;  and  as  these  have  stated 
seasons,  and  are  not  constantly  recurring,  it  hath  come  to 
pass,  that  the  Word  of  God  is  read  and  entertained,  chiefly 
for  the  visible  parts  of  life  ;  being  used  as  a  sort  of  elbow 


36  MANNER  OF  CONSULTING 

monitor  to  guard  our  conduct  from  offence,  rather  than  a  uni- 
versal law  to  impregnate  all  the  sources  of  thought  and  ac- 
tion. My  brethren,  doth  the  hand  ever  forget  its  cunning, 
or  the  tongue  its  many  forms  of  speech,  or  the  soul  its  va- 
rious states  of  feeling  and  passion  ?  Is  there  an  interval,  in 
the  wakeful  day,  when  the  mind  ceases  to  be  in  fluctuating 
motion,  and  is  bound  in  rest  like  the  frozen  lake  ?  I  do  not 
ask,  is  it  always  vexed  like  the  troubled  sea — but  doth  it 
ever  rest  from  emotion,  and  remain  steadfast  like  the  solid 
land  ?  Doth  not  thought  succeed  thought,  impression  im- 
pression, recollection  recollection,  in  a  ceaseless  and  endless 
round  ?  And,  before  this  pleasant  agitation  of  vital  con- 
sciousness can  compose  itself  to  rest,  the  eye  must  be  sealed 
to  light,  and  the  ear  stopped  to  hearing,  and  the  body  be- 
come dead  to  feeling,  and  the  powers  of  thought  and  action, 
done  out,  surrender  themselves  to  repose.  Nay,  even  then, 
under  the  death-like  desertion  of  all  her  faculties,  and  the  op- 
pressive weight  of  sleep,  the  mind  in  her  remoter  chambers 
keeps  up  a  fantastical  disport  of  mimic  life,  as  if  loath  for  an 
instant  to  forego  the  pleasure  she  hath  in  conscious  being. 
Seeing,  then,  not  even  the  sleep-locked  avenues  of  sense,  nor 
the  worn-out  powers  of  thought  and  action,  nor  slumber's  soft 
embrace,  can  so  lull  the  soul  that  she  should  for  a  while  for- 
get her  cogitations,  and  join  herself  to  dark  oblivion  ;  seeing 
that  she  keeps  up  the  livelong  day  a  busy  play  of  thought, 
feeling,  and  action,  and  during  the  night  keeps  vigils  in  her 
mysterious  chambers,  fighting  with  the  powers  of  oblivion 
and  inertness  a  battle  for  existence — how  should  she  be  able 
for  any  instant  to  do  without  the  presence  and  operations  of 
her  Creator's  laws — from  which  being  at  any  instant  ex- 
empted, she  is  a  god  unto  herself,  or  the  world  is  her  god  ? 
From  their  authority  to  be  detached,  however  brief  a  season, 
is  for  that  season  to  be  under  foreign  control,  and  rebellious 
to  the  Being  of  whom  her  faculties  are  holden,  and  by  whom 
her  powers  of  life  are  upheld. — His  laws  should  be  present 
in  our  inward  parts,  yea,  hidden  in  our  hearts,  that  we  offend 
him  not.  They  should  be  familiar  as  the  very  consciousness 
of  life.  Into  the  belief  being  received,  they  should  pass  into 
the  memory,  grow  incorporate  with  the  hidden  sources  of 
nature  ;  until  the  array  of  our  purposes  and  actions  learn  to 
display  itself  under  the  banners  of  the  Supreme  ;  until  in- 
stinct, blind  instinct  himself,  have  his  eye  opened  and  purged 
by  the  light  of  Heaven,  and  come  forth  submissive  to  Heav- 
en's voice ! 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  ^7 

.  If  any  one  who  heareth  me  have  the  Word  so  believed,  so 
treasured,  so  mcorporated,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man,  and 
needeth  only  to  preserve  himself  so.  But  as  there  is  no  one 
or  hardly  any  one  so  instated,  I  take  the  benefit  of  these  ar- 
guments and  illustrations,  to  press  home  upon  you  the  read- 
ing of  the  Word  in  another  style  than  you  are  wont. 

And,  Firsts  That  which  I  have  sketched  of  the  soul's  ne- 
cessities needeth  something  more  than  to  rake  the  scriptures 
for  a  few  opinions,  which,  by  what  authority  I  know  not, 
they  have  exalted  with  the  proud  name  of  the  doctrines: 
as  if  all  scripture  were  not  profitable  for  doctrine. — Masterful 
men,  or  the  masterful  current  of  opinion,  hath  ploughed  with 
the  word  of  God,  and  the  fruit  has  been  to  inveigle  the  mind 
into  the  exclusive  admiration  of  some  few  truths,  which 
being  planted  in  the  belief,  and  sacrificed  to  in  all  religious 
expositions  and  discourses,  have  become  popular  idols, 
which  frown  heresy  and  excommunication  upon  all  who  dare 
stand  for  the  unadulterated,  uncurtailed  testimony.  Such 
shibboleths  every  age  hath  been  trained  to  mouth  ;  ai;id  it  is 
as  much  as  one's  religious  character  is  worth,  to  think  that 
the  doctrinal  shibboleths  of  the  present  day  may  not  include 
the  whole  contents  and  capacity  of  the  written  Word.  But, 
truly,  there  are  higher  fears  than  the  fear  even  of  the  reli- 
gious world  ;  and  greater  loss  than  the  loss  of  religious  fame. 
Therefore,  craving  indulgence  of  you  to  hear  us  to  an  end, 
and  asking  the  credit  of  good  intention  upon  what  you  have 
already  heard,  we  summon  your  whole  unconstrained  man 
to  the  engagement  of  reading  the  Word  ; — not  to  authenticate 
a  meagre  outline  of  opinions  elsewhere  derived,  but  to  prove 
and  purify  all  the  sentiments  which  bind  the  confederations 
ot  life  ;  to  prove  and  purify  all  the  feelings  which  instigate 
the  actions  of  life  ;  many  to  annihilate  ;  many  to  implant ;  all 
to  regulate  and  reform  ; — to  bridle  the  tongue  till  its  words 
come  forth  in  unison  with  the  word  of  God,  and  to  people 
the  whole  soul  with  the  population  of  new  thoughts,  which 
that  Word  reveals  of  God  and  man — of  the  present  and  the 
future.  These  doctrines,  truly,  should  be  like  the  mighty 
rivers  which  fertilize  our  island,  whose  waters,  before  es- 
caping to  the  sea,  have  found  their  way  to  the  roots  of  each 
several  flower,  and  plant,  and  stately  tree,  and  covered  the 
face  of  the  land  with  beauty  and  with  fertility — spreading 
plenty  for  the  enjoyment  of  man  and  beast.  So  ought  these 
great  doctrines  of  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ,  and  the  help 
of  God  in  the  Spirit,  and  fallen  man's  need  of  both — to  carry 
health  and  vitality  to  the  whole  soul  and  surface  of  christian 

6 


38  MANNER  OF  CONSULTING 

life.  But  it  hath  appeared  to  us,  that,  most  unlike  such  wide- 
spreading  streams  of  fertility,  they  are  often,  as  it  were,  con- 
fined within  rocky  channels  of  intolerance  and  disputation, 
where  they  hold  noisy  brawl  with  every  impediment,  drain- 
ing off  the  natural  juices  of  the  soul ;  and,  instead  of  fruits 
and  graces,  leaving  all  behind  naked,  barren,  and  unpeopled  ! 
Which  makes  us  lament, 

In  the  Second  place.  That  the  catechetical  books  of  any 
church  should  have  conie  to  play  such  a  conspicuous  part  in 
the  foreground  of  the   Christian   stage,  and  have  not  kept 
their  proper  inferiority,  and  served  as  handmaidens  to  the 
book  of  God.     They  are  exhibitions  not  of  the  whole  Bible, 
as  is  often  thought,  but  of  the  abstract  doctrines,  and  formal 
commandments  of  the  Bible  :  and  this  not  upon  any  super- 
human testimony,  but  after  the  judgment  of  fallible  mortals 
like  ourselve€.     We  are  not  discontented  with  them  on  that 
account,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are   proud  to  possess 
such  as  our  church  doth  acknowledge :  but  we  are  very  dis- 
contented that  they  should  have  stepped  from   their  proper 
place  ctf  discerning  heresy,  and  preserving  in  the  church  a 
unity  of  faith  r'  that  from  this  useful  office  they  should  have 
come  to  usurp  it  as  the  great  instrument  of  a  religious  edu- 
cation, and  the  great  storehouse  of  religious  knowledge,  in 
our  families,  in  our  schools,  and  even  in  the  ministry  of  our 
churches.     Now  they  are  not  good  instruments  of  education, 
being  above  the  level  of  youth  and  the  most  of  men,  and  ad- 
dressing only  the  intellect,  and  that  only  with  logical  forms 
of  truth,  not  with  narrative,  with   example,  with  eloquence 
or  with  feeling.     And  as  to  their  l[:eing  storehouses  of  reli- 
gious knowledge — they  want  the  most  essential  staples  of  our 
religion  ;  for  there  is  in  them  no  authoritative  voice  of  our 
God  that  we  should  fear  them  ;  no  tender  sympathetic  voice 
of  our  Saviour,  that  we  should  tenderly  affect  them  in  re- 
turn ;  no  unction  of  the  Holy  One,  that  we  should  depend 
upon  them  for  healing  power.     All  we  do  is  to  believe  them, 
and  this  not  until  we  have  carried  an  appeal  to  the  word  of 
God,  which  surely  were  as  v/orthy  a  first  appeal  and  a  mai- 
den faith.     Moreover  there  is  in  them  no  feature  of  Chris- 
tian imagery,  to  catch  the  conception  j  nor  patterns  of  holy 
men,  to  awaken  the  imitation  of  excellence,  and  draw  on  the 
admiration  of  holiness  ;  no  joyful  strains  of  hope  and  promised 
bliss,  to  rouse  Nature's  indolence  j  nor  eager  remonstrances 
against  the  world's  ways  ;  nor  stern  denounctinents,  like  the 
thunder  of  heaven  upon  the  head  of  its  transgressions  ;  nor 
pathetic  burs,ts  of  sympathy  over  Nature's  melancholy  condi- 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  39 

tions,.and  more  melancholy  prospects.  On  these  accounts 
most  indubitable  it  is  that  the  rich  and  mellow  Word,  with 
God's  own  wisdom  mellow,  and  rich  with  all  mortal  and  im- 
mortal attractions,  is  a  better  net  to  catch  childhood,  to  catch 
manhood  withal,  than  these  pieces  of  man's  wording,  however 
true  to  Scripture,  or  compounded  of  the  ingredients  of  human 
wisdom.  From  the  prevalence  of  this  taste  for  doctrinal  and 
catechetical  statements,  there  hath  sprung, 

In  the  Third  place.  This  succession  of  practical  evils, 
over  which  we  most  bitterly  lament.  The  Scriptures  are  not 
read  for  the  higher  ends  of  teaching  the  soul  practical  wis- 
dom, and  overcoming  the  practical  errors  of  all  her  faculties, 
of  all  her  judgments,  and  of  all  her  ways.  Then  the  Word, 
which  is  diversified  for  men  of  all  gifts,  cometh  to  be  prized 
chiefly  as  a  treasure  of  intellectual  truth,  elements  of  reli- 
gious dogmatism — often  an  armoury  of  religious  warfare. 
Then  our  spirits  become  intolerant  of  all  who  find  in  the 
Bible  any  tenets  differing  from  our  own,  as  if  they  had  made 
an  invasion  upon  the  integrity  of  our  faith,  and  were  plotting 
the  downfall  of  religion  itself.  Then  an  accurate  statement 
of  opinion  from  the  pulpit,  from  the  lips  of  childhood,  from 
the  death-bf  d  of  age,  becomes  all  in  all  ;  whereas  it  is  noth- 
ing if  not  conjoined  with  the  utterances  of  a  Christian  spirit, 
and  the  evidences  of  a  renewed  life.  Who  can  bear  the 
logical  and  metaphysical  aspect  with  which  Religion  looks 
out  from  the  temples  of  this  land,  playing  about  the  head, 
but  starving  the  well-springs  of  the  heart,  and  drying  vip  the 
fertile  streams  of  a  holy  and  charitable  life !  An  accurate, 
systematic  form  is  the  last  perfection  of  knowledge ;  and  a 
systematic  thinker  is  the  perfection  of  an  educated  man. 
Therefore  it  is  high  intolerance  of  the  far  greater  number, 
whose  heart  and  whose  affections  may  be  their  master  faculty, 
to  present  nothing  but  intellectual  food,  or  that  chiefly  :  and 
moreover  it  is  a  religious  spoliation  of  the  heavenly  wisdom, 
which  hath  a  strain  fitted  to  every  mood  ;  and  it  is  an  un- 
feeling, unfaithful  dealing  between  God  and  the  creatures 
whom  he  hath  been  at  such  charges  to  save.  And  to  look 
suspicious  upon  those  who  are  attracted  to  the  sacred  page 
by  its  gracious  pictures  of  the  divine  goodness,  and  love  it 
with  a  simple  answer  of  affection  to  its  affectionate  sayings, 
or  a  simple  answer  of  hope  to  its  abundant  promises — to  un- 
dei^value  those  who  feed  their  souls  with  its  spiritual  psalm- 
ody, or  direct  their  life  by  its  weighty  proverbs,  reckoning 
an  authority  and  grace  of  God  to  reside  in  every  portion  of 
it---to  suspect  those  who  liv?  on  devotion,  on  acknowledg- 


40  MANNER  OF  CONSULTING 

ments  of  Providence,  and  imitation  of  Christ,  because  they 
cannot  couch  their  simple  faith  and  feeling  in  technical  and 
theological  phrase,  but  sink  dumb  when  the  high  points  of 
faith  are  handled — all  these — the  baneful  effects  of  holding 
so  much  acquaintance  with  formularies  of  doctrine,  and  so 
little  with  the  Word  itself — so  much  acquaintance  with  the 
religious  spirit  of  the  age  and  country,  and  so  little  with  the 
spirit  of  God,  argue  a  narrow  form  of  religion,  and  an  un*- 
charitableness  of  spirit,  from  which  we  pray  God  to  deliver 
all  who  pertain  to  the  household  of  faith  ! 

Oh  !  brethren,  let  me  now  drop  this  strain  of  censure 
which  the  honour  of  the  Bible  hath  forced  me  to  maintain 
against  my  better  liking,  and  speak  persuasively  in  your  ear 
for  a  noble  and  more  enlarged  perception  of  the  truth.  Pour 
ye  out  your  whole  undivided  heart  before  the  command  of 
God.  Give  your  enlarged  spirit  to  the  communion  of  his 
word.  vBe  free  ;  be  disentangled.  Let  it  teach  ;  let  it  re- 
prove ;  let  it  correct  ;  let  it  instruct  in  righteousness  ;  let  it 
elevate  you  with  its  wonderful  delineations  of  the  secrets  of 
the  divine  nature,  and  of  the  future  destinies  of  the  human 
race,  higher  than  the  loftiest  poetry  :  and  let  it  carry  you 
deeper,  with  its  pictures  of  our  present  and  future  wretched- 
ness, than  the  most  pathetic  sentiment  ever  penned  by  the 
novelist : — and  let  it  take  affection  captive  by  its  pictures  of 
divine  mercy  and  forgiveness,  more  than  the  sweetest  elo- 
quence :  let  it  transport  you  with  indignation  at  that  with 
which  it  is  indignant,  and  take  you  with  passion  when  it  is 
impassioned  ;  when  it  blames  be  ye  blamed  ;  when  it  ex- 
horts be  ye  exhorted  ;  when  it  condescends  to  argument,  by 
its  arguments  be  ye  convinced.  Be  free  to  take  all  its  moods, 
and  to  catch  all  its  inspirations.  Then  shall  you  become 
instinct  with  all  Christian  feeling,  and  pregnant  with  all  hoty 
fruits,  "thoroughly  furnished  for  every  good  word  and 
work." 

Why,  in  modern  times,  do  we  not  take  from  the  Word 
that  sublimity  of  design  and  gigantic  strength  of  purpose 
which  made  all  things  bend  before  the  saints,  whose  praise  is 
in  the  Word  and  the  church  of  God  ?  Why  have  the  written 
secrets  of  the  Eternal  become  less  moving  than  the  fictions 
of  fancy,  or  the  periodical  works  of  the  day  j  and  their  im- 
pressiveness  died  away  into  the  imbecility  of  a  tale  that  hath 
been  often  told  ?  Not  because  man's  spirit  hath  become  more 
weak.  Was  there  ever  an  age  in  which  it  was  more  patient 
of  research,  or  restless  after  improvement  ?  Not  because  the 
Spirit  of  God  hath  become  backward  in  his  help,  or  the 


THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  41 

Word  divested  of  its  truth — but  because  we  treat  it  not  as 
the  all-accomplished  wisdom  of  God — the  righteous  setting 
"Works  of  men  along  side  of  it,  or  masters  over  it — the  world 
altogether  apostatizing  from  it  unto  folly.  We  come  to 
meditate  it,  like  armed  men  to  consult  of  peace — our  whole 
mind  occupied  with  insurrectionary  interests — we  suffer  no 
captivity  of  its  truth.  Faith,  which  should  brood  with  ex- 
panded wings  ovf-r  the  whole  heavenly  legend,  imbibing  its 
entire  spirit — what  hath  it  become  ?  a  name  to  conjure  up 
theories  and  hypotheses  upon.  Duty  likewise  hath  fallen 
into  a  few  formalities  of  abstaining  from  amusements,  and 
keeping  up  severities — instead  of  denoting  a  soul  girt  with 
all  its  powers  for  its  Maker's  will.  Religion  also,  a  set  ©f 
opinions  and  party  distinctions  separated  from  high  endow- 
ments, and  herding  with  cheap  popular  accomplishments — a 
mere  serving-maid  of  every-day  life  ;  instead  of  being  the 
mistress  of  all  earthly,  and  the  preceptress  of  all  heavenly, 
sentiments — and  the  very  queen  of  all  high  gifts  and  graces 
and  perfections  in  every  walk  of  life ! 

To  be  delivered  from  this  dwarfish  exhibition  of  that  plant 
which  our  heavenly  Father  hath  planted,  take  up  this  holy 
book.  Let  your  devotions  gather  warmth  from  the  various 
exhibitions  of  the  nature  and  attributes  of  God.  Let  the 
displays  of  his  power  overawe  you,  and  the  goings  forth  of 
his  majesty  still  you  into  reverend  observance.  Let  his 
uplifted  voice  awake  the  slumber  of  your  spirits,  and  every 
faculty  burn  in  adoration  of  that  image  of  the  invisible  God 
which  his  word  reveals.  If  Nature  is  reverend  before  Him, 
how  much  more  the  spirit  of  man  for  whom  \it  rideth  forth 
in  his  state  !  Let  his  Holiness,  before  which  the  pure  seraph 
veils  his  face,  and  his  Justice,  before  which  the  heavens  are 
rebuked,  humble  our  frail  spirits  in  the  dust,  and  awaken  all 
their  conscious  guilt.  Then  let  the  richness  of  his  mercy 
strike  us  dumb  with  amazement,  and  his  offered  grace  re- 
vive our  hopes  anew ;  and  let  his  Son,  coming  forth  with 
the  embraces  of  his  love,  fill  our  spirits  with  rapture.  Let 
us  hold  him  fast  in  sweet  communion ;  exchange  with  him 
affection's  kindest  tokens ;  and  be  satisfied  with  the  sufficien- 
cy of  his  grace ;  and  let  the  strength  of  his  Spirit  be  our 
refuge,  his  all-sufficient  strength  our  buckler  and  our  trust ! 

Then,  stirred  up  through  all  her  powers,  and  awakened 
from  the  deep  sleep  of  Nature  and  oblivion  of  God,  (which 
amoQg  visible  things  she  partaketh,)  our  soul  shall  come- 
forth  from  the  communion  of  the  Word  full  of  divine  energy 
and  ardour,  prepared  to  run  upon  this  world's  theatre  the 


42  MAN;NrEu  of  consulting,  &c. 

race  of  duty  for  the  prize  of  life  eternal.  She  shall  erect 
herself  beyond  the  measures  and  approbation  of  men,  into 
^he  measures  and  approbation  of  God.  She  shall  become 
like  the  saints  of  old,  who,  strengthened  by  such  repasts  of 
faith,  "  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained 
promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  vio- 
lence of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of  weakness 
were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  and  turned  to 
^ight  the  armies  of  the  aliens." 


ORATION  III. 


JOHX  V.  39.       SEAHCH  THE  SCRIPTURES, 


THE  OBEYING  OF  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD. 


Hitherto  our  way  hath  been  easy  though  among  the 
prejudices  of  men.  In  claiming  for  the  Almighty's  voice  a 
due  preparation  and  a  full  attendance  of  our  faculties,  we 
have  been  handling  a  question  of  religious  formality  rather 
than  of  religious  conduct. — Conduct  doubtless  it  is  duly  to 
wait  upon  the  Lord,  the  conduct  of  the  heart  as  well  as  of 
the  outward  man,  but  it  is  a  conduct  which  may  be  assumed 
nt  little  expense.  It  requires  a  sacrifice  of  convenience  and 
of  attention,  which  many  should  be  content  to  render,  if  it 
would  purchase  them  the  favour  of  God :  and  many  there 
be  who  give  themselves  with  all  diligence  to  the  lessons  al- 
ready handled  of  making  ready  and  giving  ear  to  the  di- 
vine Word,  but  stop  short  when  summoned  to  the  obedience 
of  what  they  have  heard.  Then  interest  comes  in  to  play 
its  part,  and  custom,  and  the  fear  of  change  with  all  the 
aversions  of  Nature  to  the  will  of  God.  The  divine  word, 
in  old  times,  commended  itself  to  the  fears  of  men,  while 
the  emblems  of  omnipotence  overhung  them.  The  rebellion 
of  Korah  soon  ceased  when  the  earth  opened  her  mouth  ; 
and  the  people  left  murmuring  when  the  fiery  serpents  made 
havoc  of  the  camp  ;  and  though  these  emblems  have  ceased, 
the  Scriptures  have  around  them  so  much  of  hereditary  re- 
verence, and  so  much  of  intrinsic  recommendation,  that  the 
pleadings  which  we  have  made,  seem  to  us  easy  compared 
with  that  upon  which  we  have  now  to  enter.  We  have  now 
lo  contest  it  with  the  most  stubborn  habits  and  the  most 
pleasing  desires  of  Nature.  It  is  no  longer  a  matter  of 
words  to  be  listened  to,  but  of  deeds  to  be  performed.  The 
law  promulgated  with  such  solemnity,  and  listened  to  with 
such  devotion,  has  now  to  be  obeyed.  Then, brethren,  lend 
us  a  favourable  ear,  and  give  to  our  words  a  generous  wel- 
come: the  cause  is  difficult,  the  issues  most  momentous; 
the  instrument  is  weak,  and  your  interests  are  at  stake ; 


44  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OP  GOD. 

therefore  may  God  who  sustaineth  the  right  not  absent  h^m* 
self  from  the  cause  of  his  own  holy  law,  but  give  efficacy  to 
weakness,  that  his  glory  may  the  more  abound. 

There  prevails  universally  against  divine  institutions  not 
only  a  strong  reluctance,  but  also  a  delusive  prejudice  that 
they  are  an  invasion  upon  the  liberty  of  man's  estate.  The 
question  is  conceived  to  be,  whether  we  shall  be  at  our  own 
liberty  or  at  the  disposal  of  God — a  question  between  free- 
dom and  compulsion.  This  prejudice  we  shall  first  expose, 
and  bring  the  fair  statement  of  the  question  before  you. 
Then  we  shall  account  for  the  reluctance  which  wc  feel  to 
the  law  of  God  when  we  enter  to  its  obedience.  Then  set 
before  you  the  fatal  result  of  persisting  against  it ;  and  close 
this  oration  by  contesting  it  with  your  demurs  and  opposi- 
tions. ' 

The  portion  of  truth  which  one  can  for  himself  examine  is 
so  mere  a  scantling  of  what  is  needful  for  the  service  of  his 
life,  and  has  in  it  such  instability  when  not  under  the  helm 
of  authority  human  or  divine,  that  men  have  found  it  neces- 
sary to  lay  up  and  patronize  a  store  of  common  truth,  out  of 
which  each  man  may  be  furnished  ready  to  hand  when  he 
comes  to  need  it,  without  the  trouble  of  discovering  for  him- 
self. This  common  store  consists  of  the  customs  establish- 
ed, the  opinions  popular,  the  laws  instituted,  the  private  du- 
ties expected,  and  the  manners  approved.  These  are  a  grand 
legacy  transmitted  from  successive  generations,  the  accumu- 
lated wealth  of  the  wit  and  wisdom  of  our  fathers — in  which 
to  become  conversant  we  are  for  nearly  a  third  of  our  life 
regarded  as  under  age,  wards  of  our  parents,  and  incompe- 
tent in  great  matters  to  act  for  ourselves.  If  we  set  any  of 
these  traditions  aside,  following  our  own  inventions  or  giving 
scope  to  our  personal  freedom,  we  are  eyed  with  suspicion 
or  punished  as  defaulters,  and,  in  capital  matters,  banished 
from  good  society,  from  our  native  land,  and  from  life  itself. 
Thus  it  fares  with  human  kind;  they  are  knit  generation  to 
generation.  Our  fathers  bind  us,  and  we  shall  bind  our 
children.  No  man  is  free.  All  men  are  constrained  by  an 
authority  over  which  they  have  no  control,  and  are  in  their 
turn  controlling  others  who  have  yet  to  be. 

Let  no  man,  therefore,  in  the  pride  of  his  heart,  revolt 
from  the  traditions  of  God  as  an  imposition  upon  the  free- 
dom of  his  estate.  If  the  wisdom  of  God  take  no  hand  in 
the  ordination  of  our  life,  then  the  wisdom  of  our  fathers 
will  do  it  all.  But  for  us  we  shall  be  the  same  governed  and 
shackled  creatures  as  before.     We  may  change  the  place  of 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD,  45 

^  our  residence  for  a  country  where  God's  traditions  are  un- 
Icnown,  and  thereby  change  the  degree  or  form  of  the  bon- 
dage, but  the  necessity  of  it  for  peace  and  enjoyment  will 
still  remain.  We  may  change  our  sphere  in  life  to  one 
where  God's  traditions  are  trampled  under  foot,  and  find 
a  momentary  release,  but  soon  the  habits  of  our  new  condi- 
tion will  become  as  peremptory  as  those  of  the  old. — In 
truth,  there  is  no  deliverance.  Society  is  beforehand  with 
us  ;  and  along  with  its  beautified  fields  and  happy  inventions 
and  manifold  conditions  of  comfort,  hands  down  to  us  as  the 
price  of  these  a  thousand  laws  and  restraints  upon  the  free- 
dom of  our  conduct. 

Such  being  the  hereditary  bondage  of  all  ages  and  of  all 
nations,  those  are  the  happiest  who  have  had  the  wisest  and 
most  virtuous  ancestors,  to  derive  to  them  only  wholesome 
restraints  upon  the  uncertainty  of  individual  judgment  and 
the  waywardness  of  individual  will ; — those  being  the  most 
blessed  of  all  who  have  been  favoured  with  laws  and  institu- 
tions from  the  perfection  of  wisdom  which  is  with  Him  who 
knows  the  bounds  of  man's  capacity,  and  the  limits  within 
which  his  happiness  and  honour  reside.  For  the  wisest  nien 
being  little  acquainted  with  the  secret  workings  of  their  own 
heart,  whose  mysterious  organization  is  deep  seated  beyond 
our  observation,  are  still  less  able  to  comprehend  another's 
nature,  so  as  to  prescribe  with  infallible  certainty  for  its  gov- 
ernment. The  best  they  can  do  is  to  point  out  some  palpable 
errors  to  be  avoided,  some  gross  delinquencies  to  be  shunned, 
some  common  rights  to  be  revered,  some  noble  actions  to  be 
honoured,  some  base  ones  to  be  disgraced.  They  can  buoy 
some  few  of  the  shoals  and  rocks  of  life,  but  the  tides  and 
currents  which  pervade  it  are  beyond  their  management. 
They  can  construct  ports  and  havens  for  us  to  touch  at,  but 
the  manning  and  equipping  and  propelling  the  vessel  is  with 
God  alone. — He  who  gave  the  soul  her  powers,  and  to  all 
his  works  their  properties,  can  alone  sweetly  accommodate 
them  with  ordinances.  The  best  attempts  of  lawgivers  are 
but  bungling  artifices  for  compassing  coarse  designs,  aiming 
at  the  security  of  some  visible  and  external  good,  and  that 
attaining  not  without  great  waste  of  private  liberty  and  hap- 
piness :  whereas  God  being  perfectly  acquainted  with  our 
most  inward  principles,  and  with  all  the  shortest  and  safest 
ways  to  happiness,  can,  with  no  more  effort  than  is  necessary, 
carry  us  through  all  the  departments  and  degrees  of  excel- 
lence. He  therefore  is  the  only  fit  lawgiver ;  His  statutes 
the  only  liberty  j  all  other  obedience  being  an»  acquiescence 


46  OBEYING  THE  OUACtES  OP  GOD. 

in  that  of  whose  perfect  rectitude  we  are  nothing  sure,  has 
in  it  a  servility, — but  this  is  honour,  this  is  exaltation  to  ful- 
fil all  our  powers  for  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  given, 
and  after  the  rules  of  him  who  gave  them. 

The  question  therefore  of  a  religious  or  an  irreligious  life, 
when  thus  opened  up,  no  longer  shows  itself  to  be  a  question 
of  liberty  or  of  compulsion,  but  of  one  kind  of  authority 
against  another.  There  are  two  competitors  for  our  ser- 
vice, God  and  the  world  j  and  the  question  is  which  will  we 
obey.  Will  we  yield  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  various  laws 
and  customs  which  upon  coming  to  man's  estate  we  find  es- 
tablished, time-serving  what  has  in  it  no  wit  but  the  wisdom 
of  man,  and  no  stability  but  the  power  of  man,  and  which 
we  had  no  say  whatever  in  constructing,  and  which  accom- 
modates itself  but  ill  to  our  conditions  ;  or  will  we  yield  to 
the  sovereignty  of  those  institutes  which  have  in  them  no 
seed  of  change,  softly  framed  to  sway  the  heart  and  to  in- 
sinuate into  all  its  corners  the  harmony  and  peace  of  heaven, 
which  supply  the  deficiencies  of  our  wisdom  and  stay  the 
swervings  of  our  life,  and  conduct  us  at  length  to  the  un- 
changeable happiness  and  honour  of  the  life  to  come. 

And  yet  though  the  question  when  thus  accurately  stated 
stands  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  and  leaves  us  without 
excuse  in  preferring  human  authority  to  divine,  such  is  the 
antipathy  and  resistance  of  human  nature  to  God,  that  his 
statutes  which  rejoice  the  heart  are  obstinately  withstood, 
while  to  the  ordinances  and  customs  ,of  men  we  willingly  yield 
our  necks.  There  be  multitudes  with  whom  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  hath  no  sway  against  the  voice  of  fashion  ; 
imd  the  saintly  graces  of  the  Spirit  of  God  no  chance  against 
the  graces  of  accomplished  life.  Multitudes  with  whom  the 
calls  of  low  sensual  instinct  prevail  against  the  calls  of  the 
Almighty  to  glory  and  honour.  And  multitudes  to  whom 
life's  commonest  drudgery  is  an  enjoyment  compared  with 
the  obedience  of  a  godly  custom  or  a  Christian  precept. 

This  reluctance  to  the  divine,  and  compliance  with  the 
human  institutions,  might  seem  to  bear  against  what  we  have 
advanced  upon  the  superior  wisdom  and  suitableness  of  the 
former,  and  to  prove  that  God  in  devising  for  human  im- 
provement had  missed  of  his  aim.  We  think  it  good  there- 
fore to  show  how  this  reluctance  comes  about,  and  how  we 
find  ourselves  at  man's  estate  so  enamoured  of  the  world's 
bondage  as  to  feel  it  like  a  second  nature,  which  we  cannot 
give  up  for  the  service  of  God  without  the  most  violent  and 
painful  effort.     This  inquiry,  by  revealing  the  sources  of  our 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  47 

enmity  to  the  law  of  God,  will  show  the  time  at  which 
and  the  means  by  which  it  may  be  most  successfully  en- 
countered. 

At  first  our  enmity  was  as  strong  to  the  world's  institutions 
as  it  is  now  to  the  institutions  of  God.  There  is  in  every 
nature  a  preference  of  its  own  will,  and  a  reluctance  to  sur- 
render it  to  another.  It  is  not  till  after  many  struggles  that 
a  mother  gains  the  mastery  of  her  child,  and  not  till  after 
much  discipline  that  a  youth  gives  willingly  in  to  the  tasks 
of  his  teacher.  And  to  the  moral  and  decent  customs  of 
life  we  know  that  many  youths  can  never  bring  themselves 
to  conform  at  all,  but  set  them  at  open  defiance  or  hide  in  se- 
crecy their  violation  of  them.  After  twenty  years  of  train- 
ing to  what  is  honourable, and  good,  never  omitted  for  a  day, 
and  hardly  for  a  single  hour,  with  the  constant  presence  of 
examples  and  the  constant  terror  of  censures,  such  is  the  ur- 
gency of  nature  and  her  reluctance  to  control,  that  a  youth 
shall  no  sooner  remove  from  the  neighbourhood  of  his  early 
restraints  than  he  will  cast  them  at  his  feet  and  take  the 
whole  scope  of  his  self-willedness  ;  and  thus  many  run  to 
ruin  when  they  leave  the  home  of  their  father  and  the  eye 
of  their  friends.  Let  us  not  be  amazed,  therefore,  that  the 
statutes  of  the  Lord,  to  which  there  is  no  constant  or  suffi- 
cient training  of  parents  and  of  masters,  and  which  take  un- 
der their  control  not  only  the  form  and  fashion  of  life,  but 
the  whole  thoughts  and  intentions  of  the  heart,  should  fare 
the  same,  ancj  have  a  fearful  struggle  with  Nature's  inde- 
pendence. 

Now,  by  the  same  means  of  early  discipline  and  example 
by  which  we  were  brought  to  acquiesce  in  the  government 
of  our  parents,  the  mastery  of  our  teachers,  and  the  authority 
of  life's  many  forms  and  customs,  we  shall  most  likely  be 
brought  to  acquiesce  in  the  statutes  of  the  Lord.  Just  as 
no  parent  who  wished  his  child  to  be  a  well-doing  member  of 
society,  would  for  the  first  years  of  his  life  turn  him  adrift 
from  counsel  and  correction,  but  find  for  him  masters  to  in- 
struct, and  patterns  to  copy  after,  adding  to  all  the  influ- 
ence of  his  own  parental  authority  and  affection — even  so,  if 
you  would  have  your  child  to  flourish  in  religious  life,  you 
must  not  sequester  the  subject  of  religion  from  your  table  or 
your  household,  nor  keep  him  in  the  dark  till  he  arrive  at 
years  of  reflection  ;  but  from  the  first  dawn  of  thought  and 
effort  of  will,  teach  him  with  a  winning  voice,  and  with  a 
gentle  hand  lead  him  into  the  ways  of  God.  The  raw  opinion 
that  a  certain  maturity  of  judgment  must  be  tarried  for,  be- 


48  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  Gt)D. 

fore  entering  into  religious  conference  with  our  children, 
comes  of  that  notion  which  pervades  the  religious  world, 
that  religion  rests  upon  the  concoction  of  certain  questions 
in  theology,  to  which  mature  years  are  necessary ;  whereas 
it  rests  upon  the  authority  of  God,  which  a  child  can  com- 
prehend so  soon  as  it  can  the  authority  of  its  father  ;  the 
love  of  Christ,  which  a  child  can  comprehend  so  soon  as  it 
can  the  love  of  its  mother  ;  the  assistance  of  the  Spirit, 
which  it  can  comprehend  so  soon  as  it  is  alive  to  the  need  ot 
instruction  or  of  help  from  its  parents  ;  the  difference  between 
right  and  wrong,  which  it  may  be  taught  so  soon  as  it  can 
perform  the  one  and  avoid  the  other.  There  is  a  religion  of 
childhood,  and  a  religion  of  manhood  ;  the  former  standing 
mostly  in  authority,  the  latter  in  authority  and  reason  con- 
joined ;  the  former  referring  chiefly  to  words  and  actions, 
the  .latter  embracing  also  principles  and  sentiments.  But 
because  you  canuot  instil  into  children  the  full  maturity  of 
religious  truth,  is  no  more  argument  for  neglecting  to  travel 
with  them  on  religion,  than  it  would  be  to  refuse  teaching 
teaching  them  obedience  to  yourself  and  respect  of  others  till 
they  could  comprehend  the  principles  on  which  parental 
obedience  and  friendly  respect  are  grounded. 
"'Now,  we  must  confess  it  hath  seldom  fallen  to  us  to  see 
religion  taught  in  the  family  with  that  diligence  with  which 
good  manners,  parental  respect,  and  deference  to  custom  are 
taught.  The  right  and  wrong  of  things  is  not  distinguished 
with  reference  to  the  divine  command,  but  with  reference  to 
the  opinion  of  others  and  the  ways  of  the  world.  Excellence 
'  lb  not  urged  from  the  approbation  of  God,  and  the  imitation 
of  Christ, -and  the  rewards  of  heaven,  but  out  of  emulation 
of  rivals,  and  ambition  of  the  world's  places.  Companions 
are  not  sought  according  to  their  piety,  their  virtue,  and  their 
general  worth,  but  according  to  their  rank  and  their  pros- 
pects in  life.  To  which  neglect  of  means,  parents  do  often 
add  the  practical  contradiction  of  religion,  swearing  perhaps, 
perhaps  quarrelsome  at  home,  entertaining  worldly  views  of 
most  subjects,  religious  views  of  almost  none  ;  and  for  six 
days  in  the  week,  banishing  the  face  and  form  of  religion 
from  the  eyes  of  their  household.  What  glorious  opportu- 
,;3ities  these  for  the  despight  of  Satan  to  revel  in.  The  mind 
impressible  as  wax,  wandering  after  novelty,  and  thirsting 
after  knowledge  of  good  and  ill,  unbound  by  habit  and 
roving  in  its  freedom,  from  within  and  from  without  solicit- 
ed to  evil — in  this,  the  spring-time  of  human  character,  when 
ye  the  husbandmen  of  your  children's  minds  should  be  la- 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  49 

bourlng  the  soil,  and  spreading  it  out  to  the  sun  of  righteous* 
ness,  and  sowing  it  with  the  seed  of  the  everlasting  Word  ; 
ye  are  leaving  it  waste  and  undefended,  for  the  enemy  to  en- 
ter in  and  sow  it  with  the  tares  of  wickedness  to  take  root 
and  flourish,  and  choke  any  good  seed  which  the  ministers 
of  grace  may  chance  afterwards  to  scatter. 

Have  ye  the  conscience  to  think,  brethren,  that  for  this 
neglect  an  occasional  visit  to  the  church  Catechism  of  a 
Sabbath  night  will  compensate,  or  can  you  believe  that  cer- 
tain words  lying  dormant  in  the  memory  during  the  years 
of  budding  manhood  will  operate  like  an  eastern  talisman, 
or  a  catholic  scapular,  against  the  encounter  of  evil  ?  Why 
should  the  wounded  prejudices  of  any  man  wince  while  thus 
we  speak,  as  if  it  were  not  God's  truth  we  spoke  ?  Have  we 
not  the  experience  within  ourselves  of  having  been  mastered 
by  this  world's  ambitious  schools,  albeit  not  untutored  in 
the  theological  love  of  childhood,  and  have  ye  not  the  same 
experience  ?  Feel  ye  not,  when  ye  would  set  your  hearts  in 
order  before  the  Lord,  that  they  are  all  like  an  unweeded  gar- 
den, and  that  you  have  to  begin  by  tearing  and  lacerating 
the  loves,  admirations  and  proprieties  which  in  early  life 
cast  their  seducements  over  you,  without  note  of  warning 
from  parents,  or  from  the  books  in  which  your  parents  and 
your  masters  schooled  you  ?  Take  heed,  then,  and  resist  the 
evil  in  its  first  beginning.  Give  the  enemy  the  spring  season, 
and  you  generally  give  him  the  summer,  the  autumn  and 
the  winter  of  life,  with  all  eternity  to  boot ;  but  tutor  your 
children  in  the  institutions  of  God,  with  a  constant  watch- 
fulness and  a  patient  perseverance,  beginning  with  restraint, 
then  with  soft  persuasion  leading  on,  then  with  arguments  of 
duty  and  interest  confirming;  and  in  the  end,  habit,  which 
at  first  is  adverse,  will  turn  propitious,  and  the  blessing  of 
God  promised  to  the  right  training  of  children,  will  keep 
them  from  leaving  his  paths  when  they  are  old. 

The  want  of  a  proper  selection  and  application  of  means 
in  early  life,  is  a  chief  cause  why  we  all  find  it  such  a  task 
to  conform  our  youth  and  manhood  to  the  laws  of  God.  It 
is  not  that  these  laws  are  ill  adapted  to  our  nature,  whereof 
they  are  the  guides,  the  sweeteners  and  the  perfecters  ;  but 
that  our  nature  hath  got  under  adverse  government,  and 
been  fed  up  with  indulgences,  and  degraded  with  services 
from  which  we  cannot  now  without  great  pain  and  exertion 
be  delivered.  It  is  not  that  God  hath  withheld  his  blessing, 
which  blessing  I  understand  to  be  like  an  atmosphere  around 
every  man,  that  he  hath  at  all  times  free  liberty  to  breathe  in 


50  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD. 

through  the  use  of  appointed  means.  But,  it  is  that  in  our 
youth  we  were  not  properly  applied  to,  and  misthrove  for 
want  of  proper  spiritual  treatment.  Far  from  us  be  the  un- 
holy office  of  reflecting  upon  our  pious  parents,  whose  faults, 
whatever  they  be,  their  children  should  modestly  hide,  not 
rudely  discover.  Farther  be  it  from  us  to  excuse  their  un- 
worthy children,  who,  had  they  listened  to  a  father's  coun- 
cil, or  been  softened  by  a  mother's  tears,  had  not  far  wan- 
dered from  wise  and  prudent  paths.  But  farther  from  us 
than  both,  be  the  impious  thought,  that  there  is  any  son  of 
man  whom  the  Almighty  doth  not  wish  to  become  a  son  of 
light,  and  for  whose  growth  in  grace,  from  very  childhood, 
he  hath  not  set  forth  a  sufficient  supply  in  the  everlasting 
gospel.  We  blame  not  our  parents. — ourselves  we  excuse 
not,  while  we  justify  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  Parents 
may  be  more  parental,  children  may  be  more  obedient,  but 
our  Heavenly  Father  cannot  exceed  the  boundless  dimen- 
sions of  his  love  to  all  mankind.  Therefore,  wherever  the 
blame  is  of  the  present  wildness  and  inculture  of  our  spirits, 
most  certainly  it  rests  not  with  him. 

This  our  reluctance  to  divine  institutions  is  a  calamity  to 
be  accounted  for  and  overcome,  not  a  common  place  to  be 
idly  harangued  of;  and,  instead  of  inditing  popular  truisms 
upon  the  corruption  of  human  nature,  we  think  it  wiser  to 
have  pointed  out  to  you  the  season  at  which  that  serpent 
within  us  may  be  most  easily  strangled.  That  season  to 
most  of  us  is  past  and  gone  ;  and  here  we  are  to  contend 
against  the  mischief  matured  by  time  and  confirmed  by  a 
thousand  habits.  To  assist  this  struggle  for  conformity  to 
the  will  of  God,  we  brought  forward  on  former  occasions 
every  solemn  consideration  of  the  honour  done  us,  and  the 
necessity  laid  on  us,  by  his  having  ever  condescended  to  be- 
come our  lawgiver.  And  now  what  more  can  we  do,  than 
set  before  you  the  consequences  of  resisting  his  revealed 
will,  and  craving  you  by  every  thing  safe,  manly  and  hon- 
ourable, to  conform  to  his  commandments,  for  the  sake  of 
all  that  is  dear  to  you  as  immortal  creatures. 
/  Obey  the  Scriptures  or  you  perish.  You  may  despise  the 
I  honour  done  you  by  the  Majesty  above,  you  may  spurn  the 
sovereignty  of  Almighty  God,  you  may  revolt  from  crea- 
tion's universal  rule  to  bow  before  its  Creator,  and  stand  in 
momentary  rebellion  against  his  ordinances  ;  his  overtures 
of  mercy  you  may  cast  contempt  on,  and  crucify  afresh  the 
royal  personage  who  bears  them ;  and  you  may  riot  in  your 
licentious  liberty  for  a  while,  and  make  game  of  his  indul- 


•    OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  51 

gence  and  long-sufFering.  But  come  at  length  it  will,  when 
Revenge  shall  array  herself  to  go  forth,  and  Anguish  shall 
attend  her,  and  from  the  wheels  of  their  chariot  ruin  and 
dismay  shall  shoot  far  and  wide  among  the  enemies  of  the 
king,  whose  desolation  shall  not  tarry,  and  whose  destruc- 
tion, as  the  wing  of  the  whirlwind  shall  be  swift — hopeless 
as  the  conclusion  of  eternity  and  the  reversion  of  doom. 
Then  around  the  fiery  concave  of  the  wasteful  pit  the  clang 
of  grief  shall  ring,  and  the  flinty  heart  which  repelled  tender 
mercy  shall  strike  its  fangs  into  its  proper  bosom  ;  and  the 
soft  and  gentle  spirit  which  dissolved  in  voluptuous  pleasures 
shall  dissolve  in  weeping  sorrows  and  outbursting  lamenta- 
tions ;  and  the  gay  glory  of  time  shall  depart ;  and  sportful 
liberty  shall  be  bound  for  ever  in  the  chain  of  obdurate  ne- 
cessity. The  green  earth  with  all  her  blooming  beauty  and 
bowers  of  peace  shall  depart.  The  morning  and  evening 
salutations  of  kinsmen  shall  depart,  and  the  ever  welcome 
voice  of  friendship  and  the  tender  whispering  of  full-heart- 
ed affection  shall  depart,  for  the  sad  discord  of  weeping  and 
wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  And  the  tender  names  of 
children,  and  father  and  mother,  and  wife  and  husband,  with 
the  communion  of  domestic  love,  and  mutual  affection  and 
the  inward  touches  of  natural  instinct,  which  family  compact, 
when  uninvaded  by  discord,  wraps  the  live-long  day  into 
one  swell  of  tender  emotion,  making  earth's  lowly  scenes 
worthy  of  heaven  itself — All,  all  shall  pass  away ;  and  in- 
stead shall  come  the  level  lake  that  burneth,  and  the  solitary 
dungeon,  and  the  desolate  bosom,  and  the  throes*  and  toss- 
ings  of  horror  and  hopelessness,  and  the  worm  that  dieth 
not,  and  the  firC  that  is  not  quenched. 

'Tis  written,  'tis  written,  'tis  sealed  of  heaven,  and  a  few 
years  shall  reveal  it  all.  Be  assured  it  is  even  so  to  happen 
to  the  despisers  of  holy  writ.  With  this  in  arrear,  what 
boots  liberty,  pleasure,  enjoyment — all  within  the  hourglass 
of  time,  or  the  round  earth's  continent,  all  the  sensibilities  of 
life,  all  the  powers  of  man,  all  the  attractions  of  woman  ! 

Terror  hath  sitten  enthroned  on  the  brows  of  tyrants,  and 
made  the  heart  of  a  nation  quake ;  but  upon  this  peaceful 
volume  there  sits  a  terror  to  make  the  mute  world  stand 
aghast.  Yet  not  the  terror  of  tyranny  neither,  but  the  terror 
of  justice,  which  abides  the  scorners  of  the  most  High  God, 
and  the  revilers  of  his  most  gracious  Son.  And  is  it  not 
just,  though  terrible,  that  he  who  brooked  not  in  heaven  one 
moment's  disaffection,  but  launched  the  rebel  host  to  hell  and 
bound  them  evermore  in  chains  of  darkness,  should  also  do 


52  OBEYIKG  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.    * 

his  sovereign  will  upon  the  disaffected  of  this  earth,  whom 
he  hath  long  endured  and  pleaded  with  in  vain  ?  We  are 
fallen,  'tis  true — we  found  the  world  fallen  into  ungodly  cus- 
toms, 'tis  true — here  are  we  full  grown  and  mature  in  dis- 
affection, most  true.  And  what  can  we  do  to  repair  a  ruined 
world,  and  regain  a  lost  purity  ?  Nothing — nothing  can  we 
do  to  such  a  task.  But  God  hath  provided  for  this  pass  of 
perplexity  ;  he  hath  opened  a  door  of  reconciliation,  and 
laid  forth  a  store  of  help,  and  asks  at  our  hand  no  impossi- 
bilities, only  what  our  condition  is  equal  to  in  concert  with 
his  freely  offered  grace. 

These  topics  of  terror,  it  is  very  much  the  fashion  of  the 
time  to  turn  the  ear  from,  as  if  it  were  unmanly  to  fear  pain. 
Call  it  manly  or  unmanly,  it  is  Nature's  strongest  instinct — 
the  strongest  instinct  of  all  animated  nature :  and  to  avoid 
it  is  the  chief  impulse  of  all  our  actions.  Punishment  is 
that  which  law  founds  upon,  and  parental  authority  in  the 
first  instance,  and  every  human  institution  from  which  it  is 
painful  to  be  dismembered.  Not  only  is  pain  not  to  be  in- 
flicted without  high  cause,  or  endured  without  trouble,  but 
not  to  be  looked  on  without  a  pang  :  as  ye  may  judge,  when 
ye  see  the  cold  knife  of  the  surgeon  enter  the  patient's  flesh, 
or  the  heavy  wain  grind  onward  to  the  neck  of  a  fallen  child. 
Despise  pain,  I  wot  not  what  it  means.  Bodily  pain  you 
may  despise  in  a  good  cause,  but  let  there  be  no  motive,  let 
it  be  God's  simple  visitation,  spasms  of  the  body  for  exam- 
ple, then  how  many  give  it  licence,  how  many  send  for  the 
physiciarvto  stay  it  ?  Truly,  there  is  not  a  man  in  being  whom 
bodily  pain,  however  slight,  if  incessant,  will  not  turn  to  fury 
or  to  insensibility — embittering  peace,  eating  out  kindliness, 
contracting  sympathy,  and  altogether  deforming  the  inner 
man.  Fits  of  acute  suffering  which  are  soon  to  be  over,  any 
disease  with  death  in  the  distance  may  be  borne,  but  take 
away  hope,  and  let  there  be  no  visible  escape,  and  he  is  more 
than  mortal  that  can  endure.  A  drop  of  water  incessantly 
falling  upon  the  head,  is  found  to  be  the  most  excruciating 
of  all.  torture,  which  proveth  experimentally  the  truth  of 
what  is  said. 

Hell,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  despised,  like  a  sick  bed,  if 
any  of  you  be  so  hardy  as  to  despise  a  sick  bed.  There  are 
no  comforting  kindred,  no  physician's  aid,  no  hope  of  re- 
covery, no  melancholy  relief  of  death, no  sustenance  of  grace. 
It  is  no  work  of  earthly  torture  or  execution,  with  a  good 
cause  to  suffer  in,  and  a  beholding  world  or  posterity  to  look 
on,  a  good  conscience  to  approve,  perhaps  scornful  words  to 
revenge  cruel  actions,  and  the  constant  play  of  resolution  or 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  63 

Study  of  revenge.  It  is  no  struggle  of  mind  against  its  ma- 
terial envelopments  and  worldly  ills,  like  stoicism,  which  was 
the  sentiment  of  virtue  nobly  downbearing  the  sense  of  pain. 
I  cannot  render  it  to  fancy,  but  I  can  render  it  to  fear.  Why 
may  it  not  be  the  agony  of  all  diseases  the  body  is  suscepti- 
ble of,  with  the  anguish  of  all  deranged  conceptions  and  dis- 
ordered feelings,  stinging  recollections,  present  remorses, 
bursting  indignations,  with  nothing  but  ourselves  to  burst  on, 
dismal  prospects,  fearful  certainties,  fury,  folly  and  despair. 

I  know  it  is  not  only  the  fashion  of  the  world,  but  of  Chris- 
tians, to  despise  the  preaching  of  future  wo  ;  but  the  me- 
thods of  modern  schools  which  are  content  with  one  idea  for 
their  gospel,  and  one  motive  for  their  activity,  we  willingly 
renounce  for  the  broad  methods  of  the  Scripture,  which  bring 
out  ever  and  anon  the  recesses  of  the  future  to  upbear  duty 
and  downbear  wickedness,  and  assail  men  by  their  hopes  and 
fears  as  often  as  by  their  affection^,  by  the  authority  of  God 
as  often  as  by  the  constraining  love  of  Christ,  by  arguments 
of  reason  and  of  interest  no  less.  Therefore  sustained  by 
the  frequent  example  of  our  Saviour,  the  most  tender-heart- 
ed of  all  beings,  and  who  to  man  hath  shown  the  most  ex- 
cessive love  ;  we  return,  and  give  men  to  wit,  that  the  de- 
spisers  of  God's  law  and  of  Christ's  gospel,  shall  by  no  means 
escape  the  most  rigorous  fate.  Pain,  pain  inexorable,  tribu- 
lation and  anguish  shall  be  their  everlasting  doom !  The 
smoke  of  their  torments  ascendeth  for  ever  and  ever.  One 
frail  thread  snapped  and  they  are  down  to  the  bottomless  pit. 
Think  of  him  who  had  a  sword  suspended  by  a  hair  over  his 
naked  neck  while  he  lay  and  feasted, — think  of  yourselves 
suspended  over  the  pit  of  perdition  by  the  flimsy  thread  of 
life — a  thread  near  worn,  weak  in  a  thousand  places,  ever 
threatened  by  the  fatal  shears  which  soon  shall  clip  it.  You 
believe  the  Scriptures,  then  this  you  believe,  which  is  true  as 
that  Christ  died  to  save  you  from  the  same. 

If  you  call  for  a  truce  to  such  terrific  pictures,  then  call 
for  mercy  against  the  more  terrific  realities  ;  but  if  you  be 
too  callous  or  too  careless  to  call  for  mercy  and  ensue  repent- 
ance, your  pastors  may  give  you  truce  to  the  pictures,  but 
God  will  give  no  abeyance  to  the  realities  into  which  they 
are  dropping  evermore,  and  you  shall  likewise  presently 
drop,  if  you  repent  not. 

Now,  if  you  be  aroused  to  think,  let  us  argue  together  and 
bring  things  to  an  issue.  What  hinders  you  from  giving 
your  souls  to  the  divine  institutions  ?  Early  habits  hinder, 
the  world's  customary  fashions  hinder,  and  Nature's  lean- 

8 


54  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD. 

ings  the  other  way  hinder,  and  passion  hinders,  and  a  whole 
insurrectionary  host  of  feelings  muster  against  the  change. 
Well,  be  it  granted  that  a  troop  o#  joys  must  be  put  to  flight, 
and  a  whole  host  of  pleasant  feelings  be  subdued.  Then, 
what  is  lost  ?  Is  honour  lost  I  Is  fortune  lost  ?  Is  God's  provi- 
dence scared  away  ?  Hath  the  world  slipt  from  beneath  your 
feet,  and  does  the  air  of  heaven  no  longer  blow  fresh  around 
you  ?  Has  life  deceased,  or  are  your  faculties  of  happiness 
foregone  ?  Change,  the  dread  of  change,  that  is  all.  The 
change  of  society  and  habits,  with  the  loss  of  some  few  per- 
ishable gaieties. 

Now  let  us  reason  together.  Is  not  that  as  great  a  change 
when  your  physician  chambers  you  up,  and  restricts  your 
company  to  nurses  and  your  diet  to  simples  ?  Is  not  that  as 
great  a  change  when  you  leave  the  dissipated  city,  outworn 
with  its  excitements,  and  live  with  solitude  and  inconvenience 
in  your  summer  quarters  ?  And  is  not  that  a  greater  change 
which  stern  law  makes,  when  it  mures  up  our  person  and 
gives  us  outcasts  to  company  with  ?  And  where  is  the  festive 
life  of  those  who  sail  the  wide  ocean  ;  and  where  the  gaieties 
of  the  campaigning  soldier  ;  and  how  does  the  wandering 
beggar  brook  his  scanty  life  ?  If  for  the  sake  of  a  pained 
limb  you  will  undergo  the  change,  will  you  not  for  the  re- 
moval of  eternal  pains  of  spirit  and  flesh  ?  If  for  a  summer 
of  refreshment  amongst  the  green  of  earth,  and  the  freshness 
of  ocean,  ye  will  undergo  the  change,  will  ye  not  for  the 
rich  contents  of  heaven  ?  And  if  at  the  command  of  law  ye 
will,  and  if  for  gain  the  sailor  will,  and  for  honour  the  sol- 
dier will,  and  for  necessity  the  strolling  beggar  will  ;  men 
and  brethren,  will  ye  not,  to  avoid  hell,  to  reach  heaven,  to 
please  the  voice  of  God,  to  gain  the  inheritance  of  wealth 
and  honour,  and  to  feed  your  spirit's  starved  necessities — 
Oh  men,  will  ye  not  muster  resolution  to  enterprize  the 
change  ? 

Bring  manly  fortitude  to  this  question,  I  entreat  you,  and 
look  it  in  the  face  ;  compare  these  two  alternatives — the 
world's  principles  and  customs — Christ's  principles  and  cus- 
toms. When  we  entered  into  life  we  were  equally  strangers 
to  both,  predisposed  to  have  our  own  will  in  every  thing, 
and  reluctant  to  resign  it  either  to  the  institutions  of  our  an- 
cestors, or  to  the  institutions  of  Christ.  By  a  greater  apti- 
tude of  nature,  and  the  neighbourhood  of  more  examples, 
2lnd  the  presence  of  more  immediate  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, and  a  youth  of  continual  training,  we  have  grown  into 
the  school  of  the  world  where  we  are  enchanted  and  spelU 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD,  56 

bound.  I  know  not  with  what,  but  sure  we  are  bewitched, 
or  with  thraldom  worn  down  and  unmanned,  'Tis  not  bet- 
ter fortune  that  holds  us,  that  I  deny  ;  nor  more  accomplish- 
ments of  mind,  nor  larger  bounds  of  feeling,  nor  sublimer 
thoughts,  nor  more  generous  actions,  nor  more  peaceful  mo- 
ments ;  which  I  affirm  to  be  all  on  the  other  side.  What 
then  is  the  mighty  gain?  Next  to  nothing.  A  few  gay 
smiles  of  companionship,  a  few  momentary  gratifications 
dear  bought  at  the  price  of  after-thoughts  and  after  depres- 
sions ;  a  few  heady  excesses  of  spirit,  and  extravagances  of 
language,  and  irregularities  of  conduct ;  that  is  nearly  the 
sum  total  of  the  benefit.  Are  you  free  ?  Not  a  jot.  You 
are  the  slaves  of  the  customs,  and  dare  not  on  your  peril  de- 
part from  one  of  them.  You  call  religion  a  bondage  ;  yes, 
it  is  the  bondage  of  angels  strong  and  seraphs  blessed  ;  Na- 
ture's well-pleased  bondage  to  her  Maker,  the  creature's  re- 
verence for  his  Creator;  but  yours,  yours  is  a  bondage  to 
idle  floating  customs,  narrow  rules  of  men  like  yourselves, 
whose  statutes  enslave  you.  You  have  no  privileges  worth 
naming.  You  have  heaven  forfeited.  You  have  hell  fore- 
stalled ;  Pitiful  drugery.  And  this  is  what  you  are  in  love 
with  and  cannot  leave.  So  were  the  swinish  herd  enamoured 
of  Circe's  cup,  forgetful  of  their  former  noble  selves. 

I  wish  I  could  disenchant  you,  that  you  might  perceive 
the  blessed  truth,  and  love  it — which  I  see  not,  but  I  may, 
seeing  God  grants  his  blessing  to  the  weakest  instrument. 
Let  me  speak  a  moment  of  the  nature  of  this  change  ;  and  if 
ever,  now  God  send  us  persuasive  words. 

Ye  take  up  the  thing  amiss  when  you  think,  as  is  too  often 
represented,  that  it  is  a  change  to  be  succeeded  in  upon  the 
spur  of  resolution.  A  beginning  it  must  have,  and  that 
most  noticeable  when  from  leaving  God's  face  and  favour, 
we  turn  tiixiorously  to  seek  them  again.  But  for  its  com- 
pletion the  age  of  Methuselah  were  insufficient ;  men  are 
never  converted,  but  always  converting;  saints  never  built 
up,  but  always  building  up.  Now  herein  you  do  greatly  err. 
Unless  you  change  and  master  nature  at  once,  you  give  it 
up  for  hopeless,  and  fall  down  into  the  quietus  of  man's  total 
inability  and  forlornness.  This  is  the  grossness  of  stupidest 
error.  Knowledge  of  God's  will  is  not  derived  at  once, 
cases  of  conscience  are  not  settled  at  once,  nor  is  the  abijity 
to  overcome  conferred  at  once.  The  conversion  is  the  new 
birth,  but  to  be  born  is  not  to  be  the  man  complete  in  feature 
and  in  mind,  which  groweth  out  of  knowledge,  experience, 
discipline  of  youth,  observation  of  life,  and  the  thousand  ap- 


56  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD. 

pointed  steps  between  the  almost  unconscious  babe  and  the 
accomplished  man.  Even  so,  according  to  cur  humble 
view  of  the  matter,  the  new  birth  is  but  the  first  germ  of  re- 
ligion in  the  soul,  which  hath  to  be  cherished,  nursed, 
guarded,  trained,  and  taught  by  methods  and  means  of 
grace  as  manifold  as  natural  strength  is  reared  by.  There- 
fore, so  that  your  souls  are  longing  after  God,  your  ears 
drinking  in  his  council,  you  feel  moving,  though  faint,  still 
moving  in  the  path,  be  of  good  cheer,  go  on  and  prosper. 
Nay,  so  that  you  are  losing  conceit  of  sin  by  reason  of  bet- 
ter conceptions,  and  waxing  in  fear  of  future  issues,  and 
meditating  your  mortality  more,  it  is  symptomatic  of  good, 
go  on  and  prosper.  Despair  not  because  you  are  not  perfect, 
neither  turn  back  because  you  frequently  fall. 

And  ye  advanced  Christians,  do  not  despise  this  day  of 
small  things  in  a  younger  brother,  neither  go  to  impose  upon 
him  all  your  burdens,  nor  to  minister  the  strongest  meat 
which  you  can  digest ;  but  give  God-speed  to  any  endeavour 
after  good,  however  small ;  his  very  aspirations  despise  not, 
his  imperfections  do  not  sorely  rebuke.  Strengthen  the 
hands  that  hang  down,  and  the  feeble  knees  confirm. 
Strengthen  by  encouragement  and  support,  do  not  by  rebuke 
and  censure  drive  him  to  distraction. 

Nevertheless,  though  this  change  may  appear  in  various 
quarters  of  the  horizon  of  a  sinner's  thoughts  and  interests, 
there  are  marks  in  its  progression  which  may  be  laid  down. 
Discontent  with  oneself,  a  fear  of  God's  displeasure,  a  desire 
after  the  knowledge  of  his  will,  an  acquiescence  in  his  esti- 
mate of  our  sinfulness,  a  joyful  reception  of  the  Saviour,  a 
growing  peace,  and  with  it  a  strict  obedience,  a  sense  of  great 
weakness,  a  seeking  for  help  by  prayer,  perusal  of  the  Word, 
and  waiting  for  the  Spirit,  and  a  progress  in  the  way  ever- 
lasting : — these  things,  not  by  order,  as  if  there  were  an  in- 
fallible order,  which  some  in  their  witless  unobservance  of 
Christian  life  do  imagine,  but  certainly,  most  certainly  these 
marks  will  reveal  themselves  in  the  course  of  the  progres- 
sion ;  and  such  to  whom  these  truths  are  not  disclosing  or 
disclosed  are  not  christianizing  or  christianized. 

Allow  me,  then,  to  gather  up  the  whole  that  hath  been 
said  and  dismiss  the  subject.  This  world  into  which  we 
are  born  age  after  age,  is  marshalled  into  two  parts— those 
who  give  heed  to  the  Lord's  revelations  and  thereunto  con- 
form their  lives — those  who  give  not  heed  to  them,  but  set 
up  a  system  of  life  according  to  hereditary  law,  honour  and 
custom.    To  the  one  or  the  other  we  must  submit,  there  is 


OBEYING  THE  OKACLES  OF  GOD,  57 

not  one  in  a  thousand  who  dissents  from  both,  and  setteth  up 
for  himself.  Whichever  you  destine  your  children  to,  to 
that  breed  them  like  a  business.  Those  that  have  not  been 
so  trained,  but  find  themselves  confederate  with  the  world, 
have  only  to  enter  themselves  to  the  school  of  Christ,  nothing 
doubting  of  success,  if  they  consult  and  obey  the  word  of 
God.  They  shall  feel  it  new,  and  therefore  seemingly  more 
restrictive,  but  in  truth  not  more  restrictive  than  the  old, 
but  otherwise  more  liberal,  more  generous,  more  ennobling, 
more  peaceful  and  more  joyful. 

Come  over,  cast  in  your  lot  with  the  saiiits,you  have  every 
thing  to  gain — peace  of  conscience,  a  divine  joy,  a  fellow- 
ship with  God,  a  special  providence,  a  heritage  of  promise 
and  blessing,  a  triumphant  death,  and  a  crowm  of  everlasting 
life.  The  choice  of  men  are  here — the  prime  specimens  of 
manhood,  the  royal  priesthood  and  chosen  generation  of 
mankind — and  worth  domestic,  with  Piety,  her  guardian 
genius,  is  here  ;  and  worth  public,  with  Charity,  her  guar- 
dian genius,  is  here  ;  and  enterprize  heroic,  with  Faith,  her 
guardian  genius,  is  here  ;  and  the  chief  fathers  of  science 
and  knowledge  have  likewise  clave  with  the  saints  ;  and  the 
greatest  inventors,  the  inventors  of  reformation  in  all  worthy 
matters,  are  here  ;  apostles  and  prophets  and  patriarchs  are 
here  ;  and,  finally,  the  first-born  of  every  creature  who  is 
God  over  all  blessed  for  ever  !  Amen , 


ORATION  IV. 


JOHN  V.  39.       SEARCH  THE  SCRIPTUHES. 


THE  OBEYING  OF  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD. 


We  have  discoursed  upon  the  preparation  necessary  for 
holding  intercourse  with  the  word  of  God,  summoning  your 
souls  to  it  as  to  a  most  honourable  interview,  a  feast  of 
heavenly  wisdom.  We  have  detailed  the  place  which  you 
occupy,  and  the  part  which  you  should  perform,  when  listen- 
ing to  the  voice  of  your  Creator,  and  receiving  the  law  at 
his  mouth — giving  ear  as  the  light  did  when  first  summoned 
from  its  primeval  residence ;  or  the  sun,  and  the  moon,  and 
the  stars — and  as  mute  Nature  listens  still.  We  have 
searched  into  that  strong  reluctance  which  we  bear  to  the 
divine  law,  and  sought  to  overcome  it  by  the  fearful  picture 
of  the  desolation  which  overtakes  transgressors  ; — arguing 
sore  between  the  world  and  the  word  of  God,  and  praying 
you  to  be  reconciled  for  the  sake  of  Christ.  Heaven  grant 
that  we  may  not  have  spoken  in  vain :  and  now  that  we  are 
to  address  ourselves  to  a  loftier  argument,  may  his  Spirit  fill 
us  with  knowledge  and  affection,  that  his  mysterious  and  mo- 
mentous truths  may  suffer  no  disparagement  from  our  weak 
conception  and  feeble  utterance.  The  argument  for  which 
we  now  pray  to  be  enabled,  is  the  good  fruit  which  will  ac- 
crue to  all  who  search  and  entertain  and  obey  the  Scriptures 
after  the  manner  we  have  set  forth.  This  we  shall  display 
under  three  heads  :  the  knowledge  obtained  ;  the  life  of 
heavenly  enterprise  begotten ;  and  the  eternal  reward  to  be 
gained. 

The  eternal  power  and  Godhead  of  our  Creator,  says  St. 
Paul,  speak  through  the  things  which  are  made,  and  there  is 
no  doubt  that  the  oracle  of  the  works  of  God  is  loud  in  com- 
mendation of  his  power  and  providence.  But  it  is  not  easy 
to  be  explored  by  the  multitude,  little  enlightened  by  know- 
ledge, and  much  taken  up  with  the  necessary  avocations  of 
life.  And  those  who  are  conversant  with  it,  do  generally  in 
the  act  of  consulting  stop  short  in  admiration  of  the  temple 
which  He  inhabits,  paying  their  reverence  to  its  richness  and 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  59 

decorations,  but  seldom  reaching  the  inward  sanctuary  where 
his  voice  is  heard.  Nature  hath  changed  her  song,  or  man 
hath  lost  his  faculty  of  interpreting  it ;  for  into  his  ear  she 
uttereth  many  a  strain  in  commendation  of  herself,  hardly 
one  in  commendation  of  her  God.  Now  natural  knowledge, 
when  thus  divorced  from  the  knowledge  of  Nature's  God, 
satisfieth  not  the  ethereal  spirit,  which  must  join  league  with 
spirit  in  order  to  taste  its  proper  delight.  For  what  com- 
munion is  there  between  the  soul  of  man  and  the  superficial 
beauty  of  the  earth,  which  they  call  Taste,  or  the  knowledge 
of  matter's  changes,  which  they  call  Science  ? — a  most  un- 
natural match  yielding  no  profitable  fruit.  When  the  soul 
once  finds  a  kindred  soul,  then  beginneth  her  revelry  of  de- 
light. Unfeigned  friendship,  chaste  love,  domestic  affection, 
pure  devotion — who  compares  the  intensity  and  delight  of 
these  conjunctions  with  the  stale  and  heartless  sympathy 
there  is  between  a  naturalist  and  his  museum,  or  a  scholar 
and  his  books  ?  The  human  soul  groans  in  languor  till  she 
finds  a  fellow  spirit,  or  a  generous  cause  of  human  welfare 
to  engage  her  affections. 

Even  such  languor,  such  dissatisfaction  finds  the  soul 
when,  without  a  guide,  she  goes  to  seek  God  in  his  natural 
universe,  groping  about  and  unrested,  hungering  for  larger 
insight,  perplexed  with  difficulties,  and  finding  no  end  in 
wandering  mazes  lost.  How  refreshing  to  such  a  spirit  when 
the  dark  cloud  God  has  retired  within  bursts,  and  in  visible 
glory  he  displays  himself  to  his  benighted  children,  speaking 
to  them  in  an  intelligible  voice,  and  revealing  the  mysteries 
of  his  nature.  Then  cometh  rest,  and  with  rest  refreshment 
and  enlargement  of  soul.  There  is  no  cause  beyond  to  long 
after.  Than  God  the  mind  can  ascend  no  higher,  and  should 
be  satisfied  with  his  likeness.  Here  there  is  perfection  with- 
out a  blemish,  which  we  range  the  world  for  in  vain, — jus- 
tice never  perverted,  which  it  hath  been  the  glory  of  man  to 
live  under, — mercy,  with  all  the  tender  affections  which  pa- 
cify and  harmonize  the  life  of  man, — holiness,  holding  a 
spotless  reign  over  the  happy  fields  of  heaven — all  composed 
and  peaceful  within  that  same  Being,  who  is  clothed  with 
the  elemental  powers,  armed  with  the  thunder,  and  served 
by  the  army  of  heaven  and  the  voice  of  fate. 

Do  ye  love  to  meditate  nobleness  of  nature  ? — Here  it  is 
infinitely  noble.  Do  ye  love  to  contemplate  stupendous 
power  put  forth  in  soft  acts  of  goodness  ? — Behold  it  here, 
pouring  the  full  river  of  pleasure  through  the  universe.  Here 
is  the  Father  of  all  families,  from  the  highest  in  the  heaven 


60  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OP  GOD. 

above  to  the  lowest  tribe  upon  the  earth  beneath,  serving  out 
justice  and  liberality  to  them  all.  What  would  you  more  to 
fill  your  mind  with  than  the  idea  of  God,  which,  while  it 
fills,  elevates,  enlarges  and  refines.  With  what  ardour  men 
behold  their  favourites  of  the  present  or  past  ages,  aiming 
generously  to  equal  or  excel  them.  What  silent  musings 
over  their  history,  and  estimation  of  their  parts  !  Now  what 
hinders  their  rising  higher  to  contemplate  the  revealed  image 
of  the  invisible  God.  He  is  not  seen ;  neither  are  the  worthies 
of  a  former  age.  They  are  written  of. — He  is  written  of. 
The  one  is  as  lawful  an  object  of  thought  and  imitation  as 
the  other. 

Nay,  the  closer  to  bring  you  into  fellowship,  he  hath  de- 
spatched from  his  highest  sphere  the  image  of  himself  to  act 
the  divine  part  among  earthly  scenes,  and  seeing  we  had 
fallen  from  his  neighbourhoojd,  and  could  not  regain  our  lost 
estate,  hath  he  sent  forth  his  own  son,  made  of  a  woman, 
made  under  the  law,  down  to  our  sphere,  to  bind  the  link 
between  heaven  and  earth,  which  seemed  for  ever  to  have 
been  broken.  He  clothes  himself  in  the  raiment  of  flesh  ; 
he  puts  on  like  passions  and  affections,  and  presents  himself 
to  be  beheld,  talked  with,  and  handled  of  the  sons  of  men. 
He  opens  up  the  heart  of  God,  and  shows  it  wondrous  ten- 
der to  his  fallen  creatures.  He  opens  up  his  own  heart,  and 
shows  it  devoted  to  death  for  their  restoration.  He  stretches 
out  his  hand,  and  disease  and  death  flee  away.  He  opens 
his  lips,  and  loving-kindness  drops  upon  the  most  sinful  of 
men  He  opens  a  school  of  discipline  for  heaven,  and  none 
is  hindered.  Whosoever  comes  he  cherishes  with  food, 
fetched  from  the  storehouse  of  his  creating  word.  The  ele- 
ments he  stilleth  over  their  heads  and  maketh  a  calm.  He 
brings  hope  from  beyond  the  dark  grave,  where  she  lay 
shrouded  in  mortality.  Peace  he  conjures  from  the  troubles 
of  the  most  guilty  breast.  The  mourner  he  anoints  with  the 
oil  of  joy.  The  mourner  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  he  clothes 
with  the  garment  of  praise.  He  comforts  all  that  mourn. 
And  what  more  can  we  say  ? — but  that,  if  the  knowledge  of 
death  averted  from  your  heads  be  joy,  and  the  knowledge 
of  off'ences  forgiven  be  contentment,  and  the  knowledge  of 
God  reconciled  be  peace,  and  of  heaven  offered  be  glory, 
and  the  fountain  of  wisdom  streaming  forth  be  light,  and 
strength  ministered  be  life  to  the  soul, — then,  verily,  this 
peace,  contentment,  honour,  and  life  is  yours,  Christian  be- 
lievers, through  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  eternal 
Son  of  God. 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  61 

Thus  to  be  brought  into  the  secret  counsels  of  the  Al- 
mighty, by  familiar  teaching  of  one  himself  almighty,  is  an 
exaltation  of  human  nature  only  surpassed  by  the  perfect 
satisfaction  which  it  yields  to  her  various  conditions.  To 
know  things  as  they  are  to  be,  and  have  no  perplexities  about 
the  future — this  is  the  resolution  of  a  thousand  doubts  which 
were  wont  to  afflict  the  speculation  of  man.  To  have  that 
future  filled  with  life  and  immortality,  honour  and  glory — 
this  is  the  conquest  of  all  earthly  trials  and  troubles.  To 
know  what  is  best  to  be  done  in  every  predicament  from  the 
mouth  of  God — this  is  safety.  To  know  when  we  have  done 
amiss  where  to  find  forgiveness — this  is  relief.  To  know  in 
life's  embarrassments  where  to  look  for  sufficient  help — this 
is  assurance.  In  life's  disappointments  to  know  a  haven  to 
flee  to,  and  in  life's  griefs  a  comforter  to  repose  o« ; — to 
have,  in  short,  the  faculties  of  our  minds  directed,  and  the 
ambiguities  of  our  conduct  cleared  up,  and  our  prayers  lis- 
tened to,  and  our  wants  supplied — this  is  unspeakable  privi- 
lege, and  the  knowledge  which  unlocks  is  not  only  the  eter- 
nal but  the  present  life  of  man. 

Oh  !  brethren,  why  stop  we  short,  contenting  ourselves 
with  the  troublesome  parts  of  knowledge,  but  from  this  in 
which  lieth  its  true  delectation,  turning  ourselves  away.  How 
many  of  us  are  content  to  know  only  the  arts  of  our  liveli- 
hood, as  if  the  hands  were  all  the  faculties  of  man,  and  his 
body  all  his  consignment  from  God.  Ah  !  what  comes  of 
love,  and  devotion,  and  ambition,  and  the  other  faculties  of 
the  inner  man  ?  and  what  with  the  hands  can  the  soul  lay 
up  for  eternity  ?  Faith  must  supply  her  with  a  busy  hand, 
and  the  Scriptures  with  a  field  to  labour  on,  which,  being 
employed,  she  shall  speedily  treasure  up  a  sufficiency  for 
eternity. 
I  Not  less  have  the  prime  ministers  and  chosen  favourites 
of  knowledge  departed  from  the  fountain  of  intelligence. 
Becoming  acquainted  with  some  chamber  of  Nature's  se- 
crets, they  think  to  find  satisfaction  there  :  and  a  satisfaction 
they  do  find — the  vulgar  satisfaction  of  being  honoured,  flat- 
tered and  perhaps  enriched.  Equal  satisfaction  have  the 
most  ignorant  who  may  happen  to  be  born  affluent  or  noble  ; 
but  wisdom's  higher  satisfaction,  consisting  in  a  soul  enlight- 
ened, and  delivered  from  prejudice  and  error,  and  contented 
with  its  sphere,  it  hath  not  been  our  lot  to  find  amongst  the 
wise  of  this  world's  generation.  Their  knowledge  alters  not 
their  hearts,  but  opening  new  fields  for  gratifying  temper, 
gives  strength  to  the  evil  as  often  as  to  the  good  of  their  na- 


6S  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOP, 

ture,  making  them  mare  powerful  either  to  good  or  ill ;  and 
hence,  according  to  St.  Paul,  it  puffeth  up.  But  if,  instead 
of  resting  in  the  blind  adoration  of  Nature,  which,  being 
uninspired  with  soul,  cannot  benefit  their  soul  with  its  com- 
munions, they  would  rise  to  Nature's  God,  and  acknowledge 
him  not/only  as  powerful  to  create  and  move  the  universe, 
but  as  merciful  to  save,  and  condescending  to  visit  his  mean- 
est creature,  then  would  their  travailing  with  knowledge 
bless  them,  and  add  no  sorrow,  but  advance  them  into  the 
fellowship  of  God's  nature  and  blessedness.  | 

Such  are  the  benefits  which  accrue  to  us  ifrom  the  know- 
ledge of  the  word  of  God,  that  nothing  derived  from  any 
other  kind  of  knowledge  can  compensate  for  its  absence. 
Political  knowledge  carried  to  excess  makes  men  proud,  bit- 
ter, and  contentious.  Poetical  knowledge  carried  to  excess 
disposeth  men  to  be  contemptuous  of  the  wise  and  prosaic 
ordinances  of  customary  life.  Practical  knowledge  of  af- 
fairs makes  men  worldly  and  artful.  Knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures  is  the  only  wisdom  which  shall  elevate  a  man's 
conceptions,  while  it  purifies  his  principles  and  sweetens  his 
temper,  and  makes  his  conduct  bountiful  and  kind  to  all 
around.  No  matter  what  be  your  condition,  you  shall  find 
direction  to  dignify  and  adorn  it,  and  make  it  large  enough 
for  the^anctification  of  your  Spirit  for  heaven. 
(  This  reminds  us  of  the  second  benefit  to  be  derived  from 
perusing  the  Scriptures :  viz.  The  life  of  heavenly  enter- 
prise to  which  they  move  us.  I  If  a  man  would  arise  at  all 
above  the  level  of  a  mere  slave,  obedient  to  the  habits  and 
customs  of  the  age  and  place  he  lives  in,  to  have  some  say 
for  himself  in  the  regulation  of  his  conduct — then,  when  he 
delivers  himself  from  the  slavery  of  custom  and  example,  if 
he  take  not  to  the  word  of  God  for  his  guide,  he  shall  feel 
himself  distracted  among  the  contending  principles  and  de- 
sires of  his  nature.  Interest  drawing  him  one  way,  affection 
another,  and  passion  hurrying  him  a  third.  He  shall  find 
how  weak  are  his  better  perceptions — how  weak  reason  is, 
how  unwilling  is  will,  how  conscience  expires  among  the  un- 
certainties, and  resolution  among  the  difficulties  of  an  up- 
right course.  Such  will  be,  at  least,  the  general  experience 
of  men  who  while  they  refuse  human,  lean  not  to  divine 
authority,  but  conduct  life  by  principles  of  their  own  choos- 
ing. Some  there  are  blessed  with  such  weak  passions  and 
strong  reason  as  to  steer  without  foreign  help  ;  but  though 
such  may  be  found  to  succeed,  instead  of  being  admired  for 
their  noble  independence  by  the  crowd  who  cling  to  ancient 


OBEVrNG   THE    ORACLES    OF    GOD.  63 

and  present  customs,  they  will  generally  be  stigmatized  as 
self-conceited,  or  persecuted  as  innovators,  so  that  distur- 
bance from  without,  if  not  from  within,  shall  invade  every 
one  who,  shaking  loose  of  religious  or  customary  restraints, 
adventures  for  himself. 

Yet  such  adventurers  should  all  men  become.  What  to 
us  are  the  established  rules  of  life,  that  they  should  blindly 
overrule  us  ?  Must  we  be  bound  in  thraldom,  to  fill,  and 
do  no  more  than  fill  the  narrow  bounds  of  the  condition  we 
are  born  into  ?  Is  there  nought  noble,  nought  heroical,  to 
be  undertaken  and  atchieved  ?  Must  the  budding  desires 
of  our  youthful  nature  be  held  in  check  by  the  narrow  pre- 
scriptions of  an  age  and  an  authority  we  despise  ;  and  the 
labour  of  a  life  end  in  nothing  but  contemptible  drudgery, 
to  keep  our  tabernacle  in  being  ? — Adventurers  above  your 
sphere  I  would  have  you  all  to  become  ;  brave  designs,  not 
antiquated  customs,  should  move  your  life.  A  path  heroi- 
cal you  should  trace  out  and  follow  to  glory  and  immor- 
tality. 

But  if  you  resign  the  rudder  of  the  world's  opinions,  and 
cease  to  be  tame,  then  unruly  shall  you  become,  and  more 
unhappy  to  yourselves,  to  the  world  more  vexatious,  if  you 
adopt  not  the  better  rudder  of  God's  own  guidance.  Hu- 
man reason  in  its  fallen  state  may  do  much  to  assist,  but  it 
is  incompetent  to  guide  and  overmaster  you.  Better  be 
slaves,  like  the  world's  generations  to  the  soil,  and  work 
out  the  pitiful  emolument  of  temporal  and  physical  comfort 
they  derive,  than  set  their  maxims  at  defiance,  and  run  a 
wayward  course  of  your  own — ordinarily  a  course  of  ruin. 
Yet,  in  God's  name !  set  these  worldly  maxims  at  defiance, 
their  paltry  emoluments  despise,  array  yourselves  under  the 
safe  conduct  of  the  word  of  God ;  it  will  lead  you,  it  will 
guide  you,  it  will  raise  you  high  above  earthly  objects, 
through  a  noble  course  of  well-doing,  to  the  holy  place 
where  the  Most  High  abides. 

There  i^  a  spell  of  custom,  the  scriptures  call  it  a  dead 
sleep,  in  which  men  are  bound.  They  will  not  think,  they 
will  not  feel  for  themselves ;  and,  which  is  worse,  they  will 
not  allow  God  to  think  and  feel  before  them.  Brethren,\ 
■what  comes  of  this  slavery  ?  the  strong  and  immortal  parts 
of  your  nature  wax  weak,  the  love  of  good  degenerates,  and 
the  power  of  good  altogether  dies.  To  renovate  your  na- 
ture, to  fill  you  with  a  divine  nature,  to  make  you,  whatever 
your  condition,  the  companions  of  God,  and  the  members  of 
Jesus  Christ — objects  of  angel  visits — the  honoured  minis- 


64i  OBEYING   THE   ORACLES    OF   GOD. 

ters  of  God  upon  this  earth — and  kings  and  priests  to  God 
— this  no  less  is  the  design  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  their 
fruit  to  those  who  obey  them.  Know  them,  and  upon  the 
knowledge  act,  and  all  meanness  shall  forsake  your  conduct, 
with  all  hypocrisies ;  and  all  the  struggles  of  passion  with 
interest,  and  of  interest  with  duty  ;  and  your  character  shall 
come  forth  in  the  strength  and  beauty  of  holiness,  to  the 
honour  and  glory  of  your  Creator. 

ThejV'^u  walk  with  God,  and  his  favour  shall  compass 
you  around — you  are  in  the  way  of  his  commandments,  and 
the  great  peace  which  is  in  the  keeping  of  them  shall  be 
your  portion — you  are  living  by  faith  on  Christ,  and  the  spi- 
rit of  Christ  shall  be  in  you — you  are  walking  in  the  Spirit, 
and  no  condemnation  remaineth  for  you.  The  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God,  shall  put  your  enemies 
to  flight.  The  in-dwelling  of  the  Spirit  shall  move  your 
soul  to  divine  attainments,  and  the  world's  hindrances  shall 
not  hinder  you  from  running  the  race  for  the  prize  of  the 
high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus. 

I  know  nothing  able  to  restrain  or  limit  the  perfection  of 
the  meanest  man  who  will  submit  himself  to  the  word  of 
God.  Hard  labour  may  wear  you  down,  but  as  your  day 
is,  so  shall  your  strength  be.  Your  own  evil  nature  may 
hold  back,  but  the  Spirit  is  powerful  over  all  carnal  affec- 
tions. Temptations  may  delude  you  ;  God  will  not  suffer 
you  to  be  tempted  above  what  you  can  bear.  Whatever 
man  has  been  enabled  to  reach  by  divine  grace,  I  see  not 
but  man,  every  man,  by  the  same  grace,  may  still  attain  ; 
therefore  adventure,  under  God's  management,  to  any  reach 
of  holy  and  heavenly  life.  Put  no  limitation  within  the 
bounds  of  God's  revelations.  It  depends  not  on  station,  it  I 
depends  not  on  natural  knowledge,  it  depends  not  on  fortu- 
nate accidents,  all  it  depends  on  is  the  craving  desire  to 
know,  and  the  assiduous  endeavour  to  attain.  God  is  not 
loath  to  do  his  part,  nor  the  word  of  God  difficult  to  com- 
prehend. Nought  is  wanting  but  the  desire  to  be  instruct- 
ed, and  furnished  to  every  good  word  and  work. 

But  if  you  rather  prefer  the  fortune  of  the  brutes  that 
perish,  to  look  upon  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  eat  the  provi- 
sion of  the  day,  to  vegetate  like  a  plant  through  the  stages 
of  life,  and,  like  a  plant,  to  drop  where  ye  grew,  and  perish 
from  the  memory  of  earth — having  done  nothing,  desired 
nothing,  and  expected  nothing  beyond : — If  this  you  prefer 
to  the  other,  then  have  you  heard  what  you  lose  in  the  pre- 
sent} hear  now  what  you  lose  through  eternity — 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  65 

You  lose  God's  presence,  in  which  all  creation  rejoiceth. 
You  lose  God's  capacity  to  bless  you  with  his  manifold 
blessings,  which  the  cherubim  and  seraphim  can  speak  of 
better  than  a  fallen  man.  You  lose  the  peace  and  perfect 
blessedness  of  heaven,  which  from  this  earth  we  can  hardly 
catch  the  vision  of.  Have  you  suffered  spiritual  oppres- 
sion and  drowning  from  fleshly  appetites,  freedom  from  this 
you  lose.  Have  you  groaned  under  the  general  bondage  of 
the  creature,  and  called  for  deliverance,  this  deliverance 
you  lose.  Have  you  conceived  pictures  of  quiet  and  peace- 
ful enjoyment  amidst  beautiful  and  refreshing  scenes,  the  re- 
alities of  these  you  lose.  Have  you  felt  the  ravishment  of 
divine  communion,  when  the  conscious  soul  breathes  its  rap- 
tures but  cannot  utter  them,  the  eternal  enjoyment  of  these 
you  lose.  What  Adam  and  Eve  enjoyed  within  the  unble- 
mished Paradise  of  Eden  with  the  presence  of  God,  you 
lose.  What  Peter  and  John  felt  upon  the  mount  of  trans- 
figuration, where  they  would  have  built  tabernacles  and  re- 
mained for  ever,  you  lose.  Can  you,  brethren,  think  of  this 
world's  fare  with  contentment?  If  you  are  wicked,  how  do 
your  sins  find  you  out,  or  overhang  you  with  detection.  If 
you  are  holy,  how  your  desires  outrun  your  performance, 
and  your  knowledge  your  power ;  how  you  fall,  are  faint, 
are  backsliding,  are  in  darkness,  are  in  doubt,  are  in  dismay. 
You  are  not  content  with  this  world's  fare,  you  long  after 
something  higher  and  better  ;  hence  the  perpetual  cheering 
of  hope,  and  instigation  of  ambition,  and  thirst  after  novelty, 
and  restlessness  to  better  your  condition.  When  man  com- 
eth  to  wish,  to  expect  to  labour  or  care  for  nothing  higher 
or  better  than  his  present  condition,  he  is  supremely  misera- 
ble. God  hath  left  these  witnesses  within  our  breasts  out 
of  whose  mouth  to  convict  us.  He  will  say,  "  Ye  strove  af- 
ter something  happier.  'Twas  the  labour  of  your  life  to 
reach  it.  I  let  down  heaven's  glory  to  your  eager  eyes. 
You  put  it  away  ;  therefore  be  it  put  away  from  your  habita- 
tion for  ever.  Oh,  ye  who  labour  by  toil  and  trouble  to  ex- 
alt your  condition,  will  ye  not  exalt  it  far  above  the  level  of 
thrones  or  principalities,  or  any  name  that  is  named  up- 
on the  earth." 

Would  that  like  St.  John  in  the  Apocalypse  I  had  seen,  or 
like  Paul  in  the  trance  I  had  felt,  the  glories  of  heaven,  that 
for  your  sakes  I  might  unfold  them.  I  have  spoken  of  the 
removal  of  earthly  disasters  and  embarrassments,  which 
cleave  to  the  lot  of  the  religious  in  our  kind,  and  to  the  lo|| 
of  the  wicked  in  another  kind.     But  the  removal  of  these  is 


66  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD. 

nothing.  I  have  spoken  of  the  gratification  of  all  Nature's 
hungerings  and  thirstings  after  truth,  knowledge,  goodness, 
and  happiness.  But  this  is  nothing,  these  distresses,  these 
desires  pertain  to  a  weak  and  fallen  creature.  It  behoves  to 
speak  of  the  enjoyments  and  desires  of  angels — of  their  fer- 
vours, their  loves,  their  comniunions.  But  who  can  speak 
of  them  ? 

Yet  if  emblems  can  assist  you,  then  do  you  join  in  your 
imagination  the  emblems  and  pictures  of  heaven.  What  is 
the  conditions  of  its  people  ?  That  of  crowned  kings. 
What  is  their  enjoyment?  That  of  conquerors  triumphant, 
■with  palms  of  victory  in  their  hands.  What  their  haunts  ? 
The  green  pastures  by  the  living  waters.  What  their 
employment?  Losing  their  spirits  in  the  ecstasies  of 
melody,  making  music  upon  their  harps  to  the  Lord  God 
Almighty,  and  to  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.  For  gui- 
dance, the  Lamb  that  is  in  the  midst  of  them,  shall  lead 
them  by  rivers  of  living  waters,  and  wipe  away  all  tears 
from  their  eyes.  For  knowledge,  they  shall  be  like  unto 
God,  for  they  shall  know  even  as  they  are  known,  For 
vision  and  understanding,  they  shall  see  face  to  face,  need- 
ing no  intervention  of  language  or  of  sign.  For  ordinances 
through  which  the  soul  makes  imperfect  way  to  her  Maker, 
there  is  no  temple  in  the  city  of  their  habitation,  for  the  Lord  ' 
God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  thereof. 
There  shall  be  no  night  there,  and  they  need  no  candle, 
neither  light  of  the  sun,  for  the  Lord  God  giveth  them  light, 
and  they  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever,  nay,  the  very  sense 
hath  its  gratifications  in  the  city  of  God.  The  building  of 
the  wall  is  of  jasper,  the  city  of  pure  gold  like  unto  clear 
glaps  ;  the  foundation  of  the  wall  garnished  with  all  manner 
of  precious  stones.  Every  one  of  the  twelve  gates  a  pearl. 
Now  what  means  this  wealth  of  imagery  drawn  from  every 
storehouse  of  nature,  if  it  be  not  that  the  choicest  of  all 
•which  the  eye  beholds  or  the  head  is  ravished  with — that  all 
•which  makes  matter  beautiful  and  the  spirit  happy — that  all 
which  wealth  values  itself  on  and  beauty  delights  in,  with 
all  the  scenery  which  charms  the  taste  and  all  the  employ- 
ments which  can  engage  the  affections,  every  thing,  in  short, 
shall  lend  its  influence  to  consummate  the  felicity  of  the 
saints  in  light. 

Oh,  what  untried  forms  of  happy  being,  what  cycles  of  re- 
volving bliss,  await  the  just !  Conception  cannot  reach  it, 
nor  experience  present  materials  for  the  picture  of  its  simili- 
tude ;  and,  though  thus  figured  out  by  the  choicest  emblems, 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  G7 

they  do  no  more  represent  it,  than  the  name  of  Shepherd 
does  the  guardianship  of  Christ,  or  the  name  of  Father  the 
love  of  Almighty  God. 

Then,  Brethren,  let  me  persuade  you  to  make  much  of  the 
volume  which  contains  the  password  to  the  city  of  God,  and 
without  which  it  is  hid  both  from  your  knowledge  and  your 
search. — And  if  in  this  volume  there  be  one  truth  more 
prizeworthy  than  another,  it  is  this,  that  Christ  hath  set  open 
to  you  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  that  he  alone  is  the  way  by 
which  it  is  to  be  reached.  He  hath  gone  before  to  prepare 
its  mansions  for  your  reception,  and  he  will  come  again  to 
those  who  look  for  his  appearing.  For  his  sake  be  ye  recon- 
ciled to  God,  that  ye  may  have  a  right  to  the  tree  of  life, 
and  enter  by  the  gate  into  the  city. 

Thus,  by  the  combined  considerations  which  have  been 
set  before  you  in  succession — by  the  awfulness  of  God's  pre- 
sence in  his  word — by  the  necessity  of  listening  to  it-— by 
the  terrific  issues  of  disobeying  it — and  now  by  these,  the 
present  and  eternal  gains  of  obedience — have  we  pleaded  at 
length  for  the  oracles  of  God,  being  convinced,  that,  until 
they  be  taken  up  and  perused  and  obeyed,  under  the  solemn 
impression  of  such  feelings,  they  will  never  have  their  proper 
place  in  the  minds  of  men,  but  continue,  as  they  are  to  most, 
a  book  purchased,  but  little  read  ;  esteemed,  but  little  acted 
on.  It  is  shameful  to  men  of  talents  and  power,  that  they 
should  allow  themselves  such  indecision  upon  the  subject  of 
religion,  which,  by  its  effects  upon  the  world,  is  more  enti- 
tled to  preference  in  their  consideration,  than  science  or  lite- 
rature, or  policy  or  arms.  It  proves  the  grossness  rather 
than  the  refinement,  the  bondage  rather  than  the  liberty,  of 
their  minds,  that  they  should  be  so  engrossed  with  fame,  and 
wealth,  and  power,  and  the  other  rewards  which  wait  on  emi- 
nence in  any  profession,  as  to  have  no  thoughts  to  spare  up- 
on revelation  and  futurity,  but  go  to  their  graves  as  ignorant, 
and  undecided,  and  uninfluenced,  in  these  matters,  as  if  they 
were  living  in  the  ages  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  I  have 
more  respect  infinitely  for  one  who  having  dealt  with  the 
subject  of  the  Scriptures  finds  a  verdict  against  them,  than  I 
have  for  those  who  have  not  soul  enough  to  see  in  the  sub- 
ject aught  worthy  of  their  thoughts,  although  they  take  up 
with  the  merest  novelties  in  fashion  and  politics,  and  arts  and 
science,  pluming  themselves  upon  the  high  walk  of  human  in- 
terest which  they  are  taking.  Would  they  know,  would  they 
think,  would  they  come  to  a  conclusion,  would  they  justify 
their  neglect  of  God's  great  commandments,  by  a  manifesto 


68  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD, 

of  reason,  or  feeling,  or  interest,  showing  that  it  is  silly,  ig- 
noble, or  useless,  to  give  heed  to  the  Almighty,  then  they 
would  acquit  themselves  like  men  ;  but  it  doth  bespeak  in 
them  a  frivolity  of  mind  and  a  lightness  of  heart,  of  which 
the  age  and  country  may  well  feel  ashamed,  that  they  see  no 
good  in  that  heartfelt  vital  godliness,  which  hath  written  its 
blessed  fruits  in  every  characteristic  page  of  our  history,  and 
in  almost  every  article  in  the  charter  of  English  rights.  No 
wonder  that  venality  and  factious  self-interest  should  come 
to  play  in  public  affairs  such  leading  parts,  and  that  the  names 
of  principle  and  virtue  should  be  smiled  on  with  sceptical 
scorn  by  public  men,  when  thus  are  cast  away  the  fear  of 
God  and  the  expectation  of  heaven — the  fulcrum  upon  which 
magnanimity  and  disinterestedness  in  former  times  did  rest, 
when  they  poised  up  rooted  corruption  and  arbitrary  power 
from  their  ancient  seats. 

Would  mathematical  science  thrive,  if  Euclid  and  the 
Principia  were  to  cease  from  the  studies  of  our  youth? 
Would  the  public  watchfulness  of  the  people  over  their  rulers 
thrive,  if  they  were  to  refrain  from  perusing  the  daily  intel- 
ligence, and  conversing  of  public  affairs  ?  Will  religion 
thrive,  if  the  word  of  God  be  not  studied,  and  its  topics  con- 
ferred on  ?  If,  at  that  season  when  our  youth  of  first  family 
and  ambition  are  preparing  their  minds  for  guiding  affairs, 
by  courses  of  early  discipline  in  public  schools,  and  those  of 
second  rank  are  entered  to  the  various  professions  of  life,  if 
then  no  pains  be  taken  to  draw  their  attention  to  the  sacred 
writings,  and  impress  principles  of  piety  and  virtue  upon 
their  minds,  how  can  it  be  expected  that  religion  should  even 
have  a  chance.  One  cannot  always  be  learning :  youth  is  for 
learning,  manhood  for  acting,  and  old  age  for  enjoying  the 
fruits  of  both.  I  ask,  why,  when  the  future  lawyer  is  study- 
ing Blackstone  or  Lyttleton  ;  the  future  physician,  Hippo- 
crates and  Sydenham ;  the  future  economist.  Smith  and  Mal- 
thus  ;  the  future  statesman,  Locke  and  Sydney  ;  each  that  he 
may  prepare  for  filling  a  reputable  station  in  the  present  world 
— why  the  future  immortal  is  not  at  the  same  time  studying 
the  two  testaments  of  God,  in  order  to  prepare  for  the  world 
to  come,  in  which  every  one  of  us  hath  a  more  valuable 
stake  ?  If  immortality  be  nothing  but  the  conjuration  of 
priests  to  cheat  the  world,  then  let  it  pass,  and  our  books  go 
to  the  winds  like  the  Sibyls'  leaves  ;  but  if  immortality  be 
neither  the  dream  of  fond  enthusiasts,  nor  the  trick  of  artful 
priests,  but  the  revelation  of  the  righteous  God  ;  then  let  us 
have  the  literature,  and  the  science,  and  the  practice,  for  the 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  69 

long  after- stage  of  our  being,  as  well  as  for  the  present  time 
which  is  but  its  porch.  These  pleadings  are  to  men  who  be- 
lieve immortality,  (we  may  hereafter  plead  with  those  other- 
wise minded ;)  therefore  justify  your  belief,  and  show  your 
gratitude  by  taking  thought  and  pains  about  the  great  con- 
cerns of  that  immortality  which  you  believe. 

If  a  man  is  fed  on  unwholesome  foods,  his  health  and 
strength  decay,  and  if  he  be  greedy  after  such,  it  proves  his 
whole  constitution  to  be  diseased ;  therefore  it  troubleth  our 
mind  to  see  what  shoals  of  literary  works  circulate  through  ^^^^  »-» 
the  minds  of  this  people  day  by  day,  week  by  week,  month  ^^^  >> 
by  month,  quarter  by  quarter,  eagerly  longed  for  and  as 
greedily  devoured,  in  which  there  is  not  one  christian  senti- 
ment for  a  thousand  that  are  unchristian.  Such  virulence 
of  party  feeling  and  violence  of  personal  abuse,  and  cruel 
anatomy  of  men's  faults  and  failings,  such  inventions  of  wit  /^ 
and  humour,  to  disguise  truth  and  season  falsehood,  issue  x^Jf^ 
forth  from  the  press  amongst  the  people ;  that  if  the  contrary 
influences  of  religion  do  not  counteract  the  poison,  and  build 
up  the  noble  and  generous  parts  of  nature,  the  public  charac- 
ter of  the  nation  for  truth  and  sincerity  must  fall  away,  and 
the  people  come  under  the  leading  of  those  who  write  for 
fame  or  spite,  or  hire  themselves  for  pay.  This  is  not  meant 
to  bring  a  railing  accusation  against  the  circulating  literature, 
but  to  hold  up  to  all  interested  in  religion,  how  they  are  called 
upon  to  labour  in  behalf  of  the  oracles  of  God  now  more  than 
ever,  when  the  oracles  of  vanity  and  calumny  and  party  rage 
are  so  borne  abroad  upon  a  thousand  wings.  The  culture 
which  these  circulating  works  give  to  the  faculty  of  thought, 
is  all  in  our  favour,  for  our  religion  stands  by  thought,  and 
hath  been  always  the  mother  of  thought ;  but  the  culture 
given  to  bad  passions  and  unholy  feelings,  is  all  against  us, 
creating  habits  ajad  likings  which  our  religion  must  reverse 
in  its  progress  over  the  mind.  This,  zeal  alone  will  not 
effect ;  the  character  of  the  age  calls  for  argument  and  deep 
feeling  and  eloquence.  You  may  keep  a  few  devotees  toge- 
ther by  the  hereditary  reverence  of  ecclesiastical  canons, 
and  influence  of  ecclesiastical  persons;  but  the  thinking  and 
influential  minds  must  be  overcome  by  showing,  that  not 
only  can  we  meet  the  adversary  in  the  field  by  force  of  argu- 
ment, but  that  the  spirit  of  our  system  is  ennobling  and  con- 
soling to  human  nature — necessary  to  the  right  enjoyment 
of  life,  and  conducive  to  every  good  and  honourable  work. 
Religion  is  not  now  to  be  propagated  by  rebuking  the  free 
scope  of  thought,  and  drafting  as  it  were  every  weak  one 

10 


70  OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD. 

that  will  abase  his  powers  of  mind  before  the  zeal  and  unc- 
'  tion  of  a  preacher,  and  by  schooling  the  host  to  keep  close 
and  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  This  both  begins 
wrong  and  ends  wrong.  It  begins  wrong,  by  converting 
only  a  part  of  the  mind  to  the  Lord,  and  holding  the  rest  in 
superstitious  bonds.  It  ends  wrong,  in  not  sending  your 
tnan  forth  to  combat  in  his  courses  with  the  unconverted. 
The  reason  of  both  errors  is  one  and  the  same.  Not  having 
thoroughly  furnished  him  to  render  a  reason  of  the  hope 
that  is  in  him,  you  dare  not  trust  him  in  the  enemy's  camp, 
lest  they  should  bring  him  over  again,  or  laugh  at  him,  for 
cleaving  to  a  side  which  he  cannot  thoroughly  defend.  I 
mean  not  in  this  and  the  many  other  allusions  which  I  have 
made  to  the  degeneracy  of  our  times,  to  argue  that  every 
Christian  should  be  trained  in  schools  of  learning  or  human 
wisdom,  but  that  the  spirit  of  our  procedure  in  making  and 
keeping  proselytes  should  be  enlightened  and  liberal,  and 
the  character  of  our  preaching  strong  and  manly  as  well  as 
sound.  That  we  should  rejoice  in  the  illumination  of  the 
age,  and  the  cultivation  of  the  public  mind,  as  giving  us  a 
higher  tribunal  than  hath  perhaps  ever  existed,  before  which 
to  plead  the  oracles  of  God — before  which  to  come  in  all 
the  strength  and  loveliness  of  our  cause,  asking  a  verdict  not 
from  their  toleration  of  us  its  advocates,  but  upon  their  con- 
science, and  from  the  demonstration  of  its  truth. 

In  such  a  manner  we  have  endeavoured  to  conduct  the 
discourse,  which  we  now  bring  to  a  close.  Whether  it  may 
gain  the  conviction  of  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  we 
leave  in  the  hands  of  God,  who  giveth  the  increase,  possess- 
ing within  ourselves  the  satisfaction  of  having  designed  and 
endeavoured  the  best ;  adding  to  all,  this  our  solemn  convic- 
tion :  That  until  advocates  of  religion  do  arise  to  make  un- 
hallowed poets,  and  undevout  dealers  in  scimce,  and  intem- 
perate advocates  of  policy,  and  all  other  pleaders  before  the 
public  mind,  give  place,  and  know  the  inferiority  of  their  va- 
rious provinces  to  this  of  ours — till  this  most  fatal  error,  that 
our  subject  is  second-rate,  be  dissipated  by  a  first-rate  advo- 
cation of  it — till  we  can  shift  these  others  into  the  back- 
ground of  the  great  theatre  of  thought,  by  clear  superiority 
in  the  treatment  of  our  subject,  we  shall  never  see  the  men 
of  understanding  in  this  nation  brought  back  to  the- fountains 
of  living  water,  from  which  their  fathers  drew  the  life  of  all 
their  greatness. 

Many  will  think  it  an  unchristian  thing  to  reason  thus 
violently,  and  many  will  think  it  altogether  unintelligible ; 


OBEYING  THE  ORACLES  OF  GOD.  71 

and  to  ourselves  it  would  feel  unseemly,  did  we  not  reassure 
ourselves  by  looking  around.  They  are  ruling  and  they  are 
ruled,  but  God's  oracles  rule  them  not.  They  are  studying 
every  record  of  antiquity  in  their  seats  of  learning,  but  the 
record  of  God  and  of  him  whom  he  hath  sent  is  almost  un- 
heeded. They  enjoy  every  communion  of  society,  of  plea- 
sure, of  enterprise,  this  world  affords  ;  but  little  communion 
with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  They  carry 
on  commerce  with  all  lands,  the  bustle  and  noise  of  their 
traffic  fill  the  whole  earth  :  they  go  to  and  fro  and  knowledge 
is  increased, — but  how  few  in  the  hasting  crowd  are  hasting 
after  the  kingdom  of  God.  Meanwhile  death  sweepeth  on 
with  his  chilling  blast,  freezing  up  the  life  of  generations, 
catching  their  spirits  unblessed  with  any  preparation  of 
peace,  quenching  hope  and  binding  destiny  for  evermore. 
Their  graves  are  dressed,  and  their  tombs  are  adorned.  But 
their  spirits,  where  are  they  ?  How  oft  hath  this  city,  where 
I  now  write  these  lamentations  over  a  thoughtless  age,  been 
filled  and  emptied  of  her  people  since  first  she  reared  her 
imperial  head  !  How  many  generations  of  her  revellers  have 
gone  to  another  kind  of  revelry ;  how  many  generations  of 
her  gay  courtiers  to  a  royal  residence  where  courtier-arts 
are  not ;  how  many  generations  of  her  toilsome  tradesmen 
to  the  place  of  silence,  whither  no  gain  can  follow  them ! 
How  time  hath  swept  over  her,  age  after  age,  with  its  con- 
suming wave,  swallowing  every  living  thing,  and  bearing  it 
away  unto  the  shores  of  eternity  !  The  sight  and  thought  of 
all  which  is  our  assurance,  that  we  have  not  in  the  heat  of 
our  feelings  surpassed  the  merit  of  the  case.  The  theme 
is  fitter  for  an  indignant  prophet,  than  an  uninspired  sinful 
man. 

But  the  increase  is  of  the  Lord.  May  He  honour  these 
thoughts  to  find  a  welcome  in  every  breast  which  weighs 
them — may  He  carry  these  warnings  to  the  conscience  of 
every  one  whose  eye  peruseth  them.  And  may  his  oracles 
come  forth  to  guide  the  proceedings  of  all  mankind,  that 
they  may  dwell  together  in  love  and  unity,  and  come  at 
length  to  the  everlasting  habitation  of  his  holiness.    Amen. 


END  OF  THE  ORATIONS. 


AN    ARGUMENT, 


IN  NINE  PARTS. 


ACTS,  XVII,  30,  31.  GOD  COMMANBETH  ALL  MEN  TO  HEPENT  :  BECAUSE  HE 
HATH  APPOINTED  A  DAT,  IN  THE  WHICH  HE  WILL  JUDGE  THE  WORLD  IS 
BIGHTEOUSNESS. 


REV.   ROBERT    GORDON, 

^MINISTER  OF  THE  GOSPEL,  EDINBURGH. 
Mx  WoETHT  Friend, 

The  design  of  the  following  Argument,  which 
with  all  affection  and  esteem  I  dedicate  to  you,  is  to  re- 
cover  the  great  subject  of  Judgment  to  Come,  from 
poetical  visionaries  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  religious 
rhapsodists  on  the  other ;  and  to  place  it  upon  the  foun- 
dation of  divine  revelation,  of  human  understanding, 
and  the  common  good.  The  revelation  of  God  upon 
the  subject   is  brought  forward,  and  I  endeavour  to 


TO  THE  REV.  ROBERT  GORDON. 

show  that  it  commends  itself  tp  every  noble  sentiment 
of  the  human  breast,  and  to  every  worthy  interest  of 
human  life.     For  it  seems  to  me  that  upon  religion  we 
are  growing  wiser  than  our  fathers,  who  were  content 
with  a  train  of  human  authorities,  and  that  this  age  re- 
quireth  religious  truth  to  be  justified,  like  other  truth,  by 
showing  its  benefits  to  the  mind  itself,  and  to  society  at 
large.     The  poets  and  the  economists  are  quite  alive  to 
this  advancement  of  the  public  mind,  and  alteration  of 
the  public  taste,  of  whom  the  former  address  our  ima- 
gination and  our  heart,  the  latter  our  interests  ; — bases 
upon  which  they  have  reared  up  by  far  the  most  rival 
influences  to  religion — the  school  of  Sentiment,  which 
holds  of  the  former ;  and  the  school  of  Politics,  which 
holds  of  the  latter.     Now  being  convinced  that  besides 
a  Creed,  there  is  in  our  religion  the  most  elevated  senti- 
ment, and  the  greatest  advantage  both  public  and  pri- 
vate, I  see  not  but  we  should  fight  and  overthrow  these 
rivals  with  their  own  weapons,  by  addressing  their  dis- 
ciples upon  that  side  on  which  their  ear  is  open.     For 
their  ear  is  shut,  and  I  hope  the  ear  of  all  men  is  for 
ever  shut,    to  the  authority  of  names ;  and  it  is  vain 
now  to  quote  the  opinions  of  saints  or  reformers,  or 
councils  or  assemblies,  in  support  of  any  truth.     They 
even   hold  cheap  our   venerable   theological  language, 
though  it  can  boast  of  great  antiquity,  and  they  insist 
upon   its  being  translated  into  common   phrases,  that 
they  may  understand  its  meaning.     And  the  misery  is,* 
they  will  not  listen  unless  we  gratify  them  in  this  rea- 
sonable request,  but  allow  us  to  have  our  disputations 
to  ourselves  while  we  cover  them  with  that  venerable 
disguise.      In  order,  therefore,  to  have  a  chance  of  a 


TO  THE  REV.  ROBERT  GORDON. 

hearing,  I  have  refrained  from  systematic  forms  of 
speech,  and  endeavoured  to  speak  of  each  subject  in 
terms  proper  to  it,  and  to  address  each  feeling  in  lan- 
guage that  seemed  most  likely  to  move  it — in  short,  to 
argue  like  a  man,  not  a  theologian ;  like  a  Christian, 
not  a  churchman. 

It  seems  to  me,  my  dear  friend,  that,  like  the  Bota- 
nists,  we  should  give  up  our  artificial  and  adopt  a  natu- 
ral method,  of  treating  religion  ;  and,  instead  of  steering 
wide  among  disputed  questions,  bear  down  at  once 
upon  the  occupations  of  the  heart  and  life  of  man. 
They  care  not  for  our  controversial  warfare,  they  laugh 
at  our  antiquated  method  of  handling  questions — and  so 
they  perish  from  the  way  of  truth,  because  of  the  unin- 
telligible signals  that  we  hang  out.  For  this  noble  pur- 
pose,  of  delivering  the  truth  from  a  contemptible  im- 
prisonment, and  enshrining  it  in  the  good  feelings, 
good  sense,  and  common  weal  of  men,  which,  being 
unchangeable  in  their  nature,  are  the  only  proper  recep- 
tacles for  the  unchangeable  truth  of  revelation,  I  know 
not  among  my  clerical  friends  any  one  better  qualified 
than  yourself.  Your  general  knowledge,  your  familiarity 
with  the  accurate  methods  of  science,  your  estimation 
of  divine  truth,  and,  above  all,  your  catholic  spirit  and 
emancipation  from  churchman  or  sectarian  intolerance, 
present  you  to  my  mind  as  eminently  fitted  for  bringing 
the  public  affection  back  again  to  the  doctrines  of  re- 
vealed  truth.  I  crave  your  forgiveness  for  saying  so 
much;  but  my  heart's  desire  is  to  see  that  thing  in 
which  the  world  is  most  interested,  established  before 
the  world  in  the  highest  and  most  honourable  style,  in 


TO  THE  REV.  itOBERT  GORDON. 

order  that  it  may  have  the  chance  of  being  held  by  the 
world  in  the  dearest  and  the  nearest  place.     I  am, 

My  dear  and  worthy  Friend, 

Your's, 

In  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel, 

EDW.  IRVING. 

Caledo7iian  Church, 
Hatton  Garden. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 
PART  I. 


THE  PLAN  OF  THE  ARGUMENT ;  WITH  AN  INQUIRY  INTO  RE- 
SPONSIBILITY IN  GENERAL,  AND  GOD'S  RIGHT  TO  PLACE 
THE  WORLD  UNDER  RESPONSIBILITY. 


An  Argument,  or  Apology,  (for  either  of  these  words  will 
denote  that  undertaking  to  which  I  now  address  myself  in 
devout  dependence  upon  Almighty  God,)  ought,  as  is  the 
manner  of  ordinary  judicial  questions,  First,  to  choose  the 
tribunal  before  which  the  question  is  to  be  tried  ;  Secondly, 
To  define  the  exact  point  which  is  brought  into  issue  ;  and. 
Thirdly,  To  open  up  the  line  of  argument  or  defence  that  is 
to  be  pursued.  These  preliminaries  we  shall  now  settle  with 
our  readers,  before  whose  unbiassed  judgments  we  are  about 
to  propound  the  meriis  of  the  most  momentous  question  that 
ever  came  before  them  for  a  verdict. 

The  tribunal  before  which  we  choose  to  plead  this  most 
grave  and  momentous  question,  is  the  whole  reason  or  un- 
derstanding of  man.  Not  his  intellect  merely,  to  which 
common  arguments  are  addressed,  but  his  affections,  his  in- 
terests, his  hopes,  his  fears,  his  wishes, — in  one  word,  his 
whole  undivided  soul.  It  is  not  with  the  intention  of  con- 
fusing his  judgment,  that  we  will  endeavour  to  take  his  hu- 
man nature  upon  every  side,  but  because  we  think  our  case 
so  important  and  so  good  as  to  solicit  the  verdict  of  every 
faculty  which  human  nature  possesseth.  We  feel  that  ques- 
tions touching  the  truths  of  revelation  have  been  too  long 
treated  in  a  logical  or  scholastic  method,  which  doth  address 
itself  to  I  know  not  what  fraction  of  the  mind  ;  and  not  find- 
ing this  used  in  Scripture,  or  successful  in  practice,  we  are 
disposed  to  try  another  method,  and  appeal  our  cause  to 
every  sympathy  of  the  soul  which  it  doth  naturally  bear 
upon.  We  shall  speak,  according  as  it  suits  the  topic  in 
hand,  to  the  parts  of  human  nature  which  the  poet  address- 

11 


78  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

eth,  to  the  parts  of  human  nature  which  the  economist  ad- 
dresseth,  no  less  than  to  those  which  the  logician  addresseth. 
Nevertheless,  after  a  logical  method  we  shall  do  so  ;  that  is, 
we  shall  present  before  these  affections  of  the  mind  our  ques- 
tion in  a  fair  and  undisguised  form,  without  fear  and  without 
partiality.  Therefore,  all  we  ask  of  our  reader,  who  is  our 
judge,  is  to  have  the  eyes  of  his  mind  as  much  as  possible 
unveiled  from  any  prejudice,  and  the  affections  of  his  nature 
unrestrained  by  any  ancient  habit  from  moving  with  natural 
freedom  to  whatever  may  have  charms  in  his  eye.  For  the 
subject  which  we  have  to  bring  before  him  is  one  in  which 
every  faculty  of  his  nature  is  interested,  requiring  imagina- 
tion to  conceive  its  ample  bounds,  judgment  to  weigh  its 
justice,  hope  and  fear  to  feel  its  consequences,  and  affection 
to  embrace  all  the  tender  circumstances  of  its  revelation- 
even  the  subject  of  Judgment  to  Come,  which  will  decide, 
to  every  soul  that  readeth  these  pages,  its  destiny  for  ever 
and  ever. 

This  subject,  which  we  come  next  to  define,  after  having 
chosen  the  tribunal  before  which  it  is  to  be  agitated,  is  the 
whole  matter  of  human  responsibility  and  future  judgment, 
as  they  are  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament.  Our  instruction,  or  our  briefs  to  speak  techni- 
cally, is  taken  from  the  revelation  of  God,  to  which  we  would 
not  willingly  add  one  idea  of  our  own,  as  we  would  not  with- 
hold, for  the  sake  of  easing  the  burden  of  our  theme,  any 
one  idea  which  it  contains.  The  revelation,  the  whole  re- 
velation, and  nothing  but  the  revelation,  upon  the  subject  of 
our  responsibility,  and  our  condemnation  or  acquittal,  is  the 
thing  which  we  undertake  to  argue  for,  and  to  justify  before 
every  noble  attribute  of  human  nature.  We  hold  no  ques- 
tion upon  the  authenticity  of  the  revelation,  which  we  take 
altogether  for  granted  ;  we  have  ado  with  its  matter  only  ; 
so  that  our  business  is  not  with  the  believer  or  the  unbe- 
liever, but  with  the  man.  Here  is  a  certain  future  transac- 
tion revealed,  as  consequent  upon  a  certain  constitution  of 
things,  also  revealed.  We  inquire  not  how  nor  whence  it 
hath  come  ;  we  take  it  as  we  find  it,  and  inquire  whether  it 
be  a  just  thing  and  honourable  thing,  an  advantageous  thing 
to  the  nature  and  condition  of  those  to  whom  it  is  known. 
We  inquire  not  with  respect  to  any  save  such  as  have  had  it 
revealed  to  them,  because  we  think  it  is  applicable  to  none 
besides.  It  is  part  of  a  system  of  revealed  truth — the  key- 
stone, as  it  were,  of  the  system,  and  cannot  be  applied  but 
as  a  part  of  it.    Therefore  injustice  it  is  not  right,  and  cer- 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  79 

tainly  in  point  of  fact  it  is  not  our  intention,  to  apply  it  to 
any  others  than  to  those  unto  whom  revelation  hath  come. 

But  whereas  an  act  of  judgment  presupposeth  something 
which  is  to  be  judged  of,  and  implies  something  good  or  bad 
which  is  to  follow  thereon,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  an 
argument  or  apology  for  Judgment  to  Come,  that  the  thing 
should  be  developed  upon  which  judgment  is  to  pass,  and 
the  consequences  to  follow  after  judgment  hath  been  passed. 
The  assize  is  not  the  first  act,  but  the  second  act  of  a  drama 
which  is  not  yet  closed.  The  first  act  is  the  occurrence  which 
is  charged  upon,  the  second  act  is  the  decision,  and  the  third 
is  the  execution  of  the  verdict — and  there  the  matter  endeth. 
But  our  argument  we  do  not  intend  to  conclude  therewith  ; 
for,  knowing  the  mighty  stake  which  is  in  issue  to  every  one 
who  readeth  this  discourse,  we  should  have  but  ill  discharged 
our  duty  to  his  soul  and  to  our  God,  for  whose  sakes  we 
enter  the  lists  of  this  controversy,  were  we  not  to  add  to 
the  completed  representation  something  which  might  turn  to 
a  good  purpose  those  anxieties  which  it  may  please  God  to 
awaken  ;  and  if  they  be  not  awakened,  we  would  discharge 
our  duty  still  worse,  did  we  not  cast  aside  all  reserves  and 
awaken  all  the  energy  of  our  mind,  and  with  all  our  heart 
and  strength,  and  soul  and  might,  cast  ourselves  upon  the 
barriers  which  are  defending  conscience  from  the  invasion  of 
truth.  Therefore,  after  this  order  will  our  discourse  pro- 
ceed : — First,  we  shall  set  forth  the  constitution  of  divine 
government  upon  which  this  judgment  is  to  be  passed.  Then 
we  shall  treat  of  the  actual  judgment ;  then  of  the  issues  of 
the  judgment ;  and,  lastly,  do  our  endeavour  to  guide  the 
people  into  the  way  of  salvation  from  the  judgment,  con- 
cerning which,  if  they  should  continue  wreckless,  we  shall 
strike  a  note  to  thrill  the  drowsy  chambers  of  the  soul,  and 
awaken  it  from  its  fatal  slumbers. 

Such  is  the  order  in  which  we  propose  to  lay  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  Judgment  to  Come  before  the  whole  comprehension 
and  feeling  of  the  soul ;  in  doing  which  we  shall  take  all  liber- 
ty of  discourse,  abstaining  from  the  technical  forms  of  the- 
ology, which  half  the  world  does  not  understand,  and  the 
other  half  seems  heartily  disposed  to  forget.  We  shall  also 
indulge  in  disquisition,  to  clear  the  subject  of  obscurity  ;  and 
in  digression,  to  render  it  entertaining  ;  and  in  application, 
to  touch,  in  passing,  any  interest  or  emotion  which  may  be 
affected  j  but  these  subsidiary  to  the  great  object  which  we 


80  OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

have  proposed,  of  justifying  and  commending  this  part  of 
divine  revelation  to  the  hearts  of  men. 

In  which,  if  we  are  enabled  to  succeed,  we  shall  have 
done  them  an  unspeakable  service.  For  this  coming  event, 
which  to  every  man  is  the  decision  of  the  everlasting  future, 
being  understood,  and  seated  in  our  high  regards,  will  na- 
turally cast  forward  into  time  the  brightness  of  its  hopes  and 
the  shadow  of  its  fears.  Calling  up  from  their  graves  all 
our  past  transactions,  and  awakening  against  us  every  thing 
as  when  it  was  first  conceived,  it  ought  to  give  value  to  ev- 
ery current  thought,  and  importance  to  every  passing  act, 
making  life  a  diligent  serious  occupation  of  time,  instead  of 
a  laborious  destruction  of  it,  or  an  idle  gay  diversion.  Thought 
would  become  a  constant  device  for  the  good  ends  which 
God  hath  set  before  us,  and  action  a  constant  enterprise  to 
bring  these  ends  about:  And  seeing  it  is  placed  within  the 
power  of  every  creature  to  find  acceptance  of  his  Judge,  and 
everlasting  glory  ;  life  would  become  full  not  only  of  good 
endeavours  but  joyful  prospects,  were  men  convinced  and 
mindful  of  the  last  day,  which  is  to  sum  up  all  the  past  and 
decide  all  the  future  of  their  existence.  There  manifestly 
wants  some  such  husbanding  and  equallizing  power  to  make 
the  faculties  of  man  turn  themselves  to  the  most  account. 
Some  drop  asleep  amidst  sensual  gratifications,  and  do  no- 
thing for  the  common  weal  but  consume  its  stores — others 
idle  amongst  trifles,  passing  the  bright  sea'son  of  youth  in 
vain  and  empty  shows — others  fight  against  their  own  and 
the  public  peace,  wielding  every  power  they  can  command 
for  the  aggrandizement  of  themselves  at  every  hazard  and 
expense.  There  is  no  spring  that  never  runs  down  to  move 
the  machinery  of  a  single  man's  life ;  there  is  no  common 
spring  that  never  runs  down  to  move  harmoniously  the  com- 
bined machinery  of  society.  Powers  of  good  are  slumber- 
ing for  want  of  a  call,  instruments  rusting  for  want  of  an  oc- 
casion ;  and  a  meagre  unsatisfying  recollection  of  occasions 
lost  and  time  mispent,  is  the  portion  of  almost  every  man. 
— What  laborious  trifling,  what  ingenuity  of  wickedness, 
what  self-torturing  ennui,  what  artificial  stimulants,  what 
brutalizing  excess  there  is  in  this  weary  world !  To  reach 
distinction  and  power,  you  must  fight  battles  and  be  the 
death  of  thousands.  To  be  a  hero,  you  must  wade  through 
seas  of  blood.  To  be  a  statesman,  you  must  submit  the  soul 
to  suppleness,  and  be  the  creature  of  creatures  like  yourself. 
There  wanteth  a  power  to  enable  a  man  to  turn  the  wheel  of 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  81 

Tils  own  destiny,  and  by  diligence  and  patience  to  arrive  at 
true  greatness  and  blessedness. 

To  set  forth  such  a  power  is  the  argument  of  our  present 
discourse,  to  the  perusal  oT  which  we  pray  those  who  take  it 
up  to  bring  with  them  a  vigorous  manly  understanding,  no 
crouching  timorous  faith,  for  it  is  our  purpose,  in  the  strength 
of  God,  the  giver  of  all  understanding,  to  examine  this  his 
great  revelation  of  Judgment  to  Come,  with  freedom  and 
fairness,  and  to  try  if  it  will  stand  the  test  of  inquiry  and 
objection.  We  are  not  to  advocate  or  eulogise  it,  as  we 
lately  did  the  Divine  Oracles,  but  we  are  to  expound  it  ac- 
cording to  the  Scriptures,  and  see  how  it  suits  human  nature, 
and  makes  for  human  welfare.  We  intend  that  it  should 
speak  for  itself,  and  become  its  own  argument ;  and  by  its 
own  grave  and  weighty  character  rebuke  and  ashame  those 
idle  parodies  of  it,  which  have  lately  issued  from  the  seeth- 
ing brains  of  irreligious  poets.  Our  Apology  for  Judgment 
to  Come,  against  these  idle  visionaries  and  wasteful  prodi- 
gals of  God's  high  gifts,  is  to  the  common  sense  and  good 
feelings  of  men. — We  would  bring  the  question  back  from 
the  tribunal  of  wit  and  fancy,  and  ribaldry  and  worldly  wis- 
dom, to  the  tribunal  of  grave  judgment,  that  old  and  hoary 
discerner  of  truth. 

We  are  then,  first  of  all,  to  be  occupied  with  the  develop- 
ment of  that  which  must  always  precede  judgment,  viz.  the 
promulgated  law  or  statute  upon  which  judgment  is  to  be 
held.  This  is  the  divine  constitution  contained  in  the  word 
of  God,  which  it  behoves  us  to  understand  before  we  can 
be  able  to  estimate  the  fairness  of  the  trial  or  the  appropriate- 
ness of  the  verdict.  To  unfold  that  constitution,  therefore, 
we  would  address  ourselves  without  delay,  did  a  previous 
question  not  suggest  itself — What  good  the  Almighty  pro- 
poses by  laying  us  under  responsibility,  and  what  right  he 
hath  to  do  so  ?  The  mind  doth  not  easily  relinquish  its  own 
rule  at  any  time,  and  looks  for  a  sufficient  inducement  to  do 
so.  And  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  Creator,  who  knows 
the  nature  of  his  handywork,  should  consult  for  the  nature 
that  he  has  given  it,  and  in  presenting  any  supplementary 
code  of  government,  accommodate  himself  to  the  conditions 
in  which  it  is  already  placed.  This  is  a  preliminary  inquiry 
upon  which  the  mind  looks  to  have  satisfaction,  before  it  will 
go  with  good  accord  into  the  details  of  any  constitution  or 
the  judgment  thereon.  The  matter  of  right  is  the  first  ques- 
tion, which  being  disposed  of,  we  are  then  welcome  to  make 
our  propositions. 


8S  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 

That  all  fairness  may  be  allowed  to  that  human  nature, 
which  is  the  honoured  tribunal  we  plead  before,  we  shall 
search  a  little  into  her  ways,  and  see  whether  she  doth  better 
to  be  in  a  state  of  responsibility,  or  to  be  discharged  into  her 
own  unbounded  freedom.  Then  we  shall  examine  the 
grounds  upon  which  the  Almighty  places  himself  forward  as 
her  lawgiver,  and  the  general  tendency  of  that  responsibility 
■with  which  he  hath  overlaid  her  goings  out  and  her  comings 
in,  which  will  occupy  the  remainder  of  this  first  division  of 
our  discourse. 

In  addressing  ourselves  to  the  first  of  these  inquiries. 
Whether  human  nature  does  well  to  sit  under  a  condition  of 
responsibility  ?  we  judge  it  the  most  pleasant  and  satisfactory- 
method  of  proceeding,  to  look  into  the  real  form  which  she 
puts  on  in  families,  and  in  political  bodies,  and  private  friend- 
ships, and  the  other  institutions  which  distinguish  the  nature 
of  men  from  the  nature  of  the  lower  animals — then  to  ex- 
amine whether  there  is  any  analogy  between  what  seems 
congenial  to  her  in  these  institutions  and  that  responsibility 
under  which  God  hath  placed  her  by  his  judgment. 

From  the  earliest  dawn  of  comprehension,  our  parents  lay 
down  to  us  things  to  be  done  and  things  to  be  avoided ; 
praising  or  blaming,  rewarding  or  punishing,  according  to 
our  performances.  In  this  they  are  prompted  by  a  regard  to 
our  future  happiness,  so  far  as  they  can  discern  the  way  to 
it;  otherwise  they  would  never  impose  painful  restraints 
upon  those  whom  they  love.  Accordingly,  so  soon  as  we 
are  able  to  weigh  the  consequences  of  things,  they  point  out 
the  good  they  would  secure,  and  the  evil  they  would  avoid 
by  this  early  discipline,  thereby  bringing  our  own  will  to  go 
along  with  theirs,  and  so  securing  us  by  two  principles,  that 
of  parental  authority,  and  that  of  advantage  foreseen.  Here 
from  the  very  first,  are  all  the  elements  of  government — a 
good  end  to  be  secured  for  the  little  state — laws  drawn  out 
and  made  known  for  securing  it — one  who  persuades  obe- 
dience to  them,  and  sees  them  obeyed,  and  if  disobeyed, 
visits  the  oiFence  with  such  treatment  as  may  recal  the  of- 
fender, and  be  a  warning  to  the  rest.  The  parent  who  is  at 
the  head  of  this  little  administration  is  so  far  from  being  di- 
vested of  the  sense  of  responsibility,  that  he  is  the  one  per- 
haps who  feels  it  most.  He  makes  no  regulation  according 
to  blind  wilfulness,  but  consults  for  the  future  welfare  of  his 
offspring — he  studies  their  nature,  and  so  soon  as  it  is 
ripe,  he  addresses  their  understanding — he  executes  justice 
amongst  them,  and  preserves  consistency  in  his  judgment, 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  83 

and  mingles  a  reasonable  allowance  of  liberty  with  the  pain- 
fulness  of  restraint ;  so  that  he  is  responsible  to  his  own 
wisdom,  to  their  future  welfare,  to  exact  justice,  besides 
being  responsible  to  higher  powers,  which,  for  the  sake  of 
our  argument,  we  must  at  present  keep  out  of  the  question. 
Now,  before  we  pass  on  to  another  topic,  I  pray  you  to  ob- 
serve, that  no  family  estate  would  prosper,  however  well 
joined  by  affection  and  interest,  or  well  ordered  by  wise  regu- 
lations, were  there  not  added  a  judgment,  or  calling  to  ac- 
count when  it  is  necessary  ;  all  the  rest  would  go  for  nought, 
were  there  not  in  the  rear  of  it,  the  certainty  of  judgment  to 
pass  upon  offences.  For  consider  that  the  reason  which 
moves  you  to  lay  down  rules  to  your  children,  is  not  that 
you  love  to  govern,  or  to  see  them  restrained  of  their  liberty, 
or  that  they  have  a  natural  pleasure  in  obeying  ;  but  that 
you  take  pity  upon  their  ignorance  of  the  world,  and  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  tendency  of  their  nature  to  go  astray,  and 
would  be  wanting  in  affection,  and  in  carefulness,  did  you 
not  lay  down  to  them  the  course  which  you  judged  best. 
Now  if  you  do  but  make  them  acquainted,  taking  no  cogni- 
zance of  their  observance,  and  calling  no  account  of  it,  then 
you  only  half  attain  your  object,  or  rather  you  do  not  attain 
it  at  all.  They  know  your  opinion  only,  but  at  first  they  know 
not  how  to  value  your  opinion,  they  should  also  know  your 
smiles,  your  favour,  your  reward  upon  the  good,  your 
frowns,  your  discountenance,  your  chastisement  upon  the 
evil.  Your  commands  will  be  forgotten,  if  not  frequently 
recommended  by  all  the  tokens  of  affection,  and  the  contrary 
discommended  by  all  the  tokens  of  displeasure.  Therefore 
in  every  family  there  goes  on  not  only  a  silent  operation  of 
law-giving,  but  also  a  secret  operation  of  law-enforcing,  a 
system  of  rewards  and  punishments  ; — judgment  as  well  as 
affection  being  a  standing  order  of  the  house. 

Now  if  from  the  family  we  pass  upwards  to  the  state,  we 
shall  find  the  same  principle  of  responsibility  regulating  and 
ruling  its  affairs,  with  this  difference,  that  here  every  thing  is 
open  and  visible  ;  whereas  in  the  other,  it  was  silent  and  in- 
visible, yet  not  on  that  account  the  less  certain  or  strong. 
The  first  thing  in  the  state  is  to  obtain  a  lawgiver,  no  one 
being  so  naturally  the  guardian  of  the  rest  as  the  father  is  of 
the  family,  who  are  his  offspring  and  his  dependants.  Su- 
perior wisdom  in  the  infancy  of  states  was  wont  to  confer 
this  distinction  of  lawgiver  which  nature  had  not  decided. 
But  as  soon  as  this  difficulty  is  got  over,  and  a  code  of  laws 
hath  been  adopted  and  spread  abroad,  there  begins  a  general 


84<  OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

bending  of  the  common  will  to  its  obedience,  and  whosoever 
does  not  choose  to  obey,  is  fain  to  take  his  leave  of  the  so- 
ciety. The  judge  is  no  part  of  the  law,  but  only  the  mouth 
which  utters  it.  The  magistrate  also  is  no  part  of  the  law, 
being  the  hand  to  enforce  it.  The  law,  the  naked  law,  is 
sovereign  over  all.  And  when  a  necessity  arises  for  amend- 
ing the  law,  then  the  best  method  is  taken  of  collecting  the 
common  sentiment  of  the  community.  But  no  one  voice 
can  alter  the  law,  or  set  the  law  at  naught — no,  not  the  high- 
est personage  of  the  realm,  who  has  his  powers  defined  no 
less  stricdy  than  the  meanest.  Thus  men,  in  order  to  bring 
themselves  to  any  condition  of  prosperity  or  enjoyment,  find 
it  necessary  to  submit  themselves  to  a  law,  to  disarm  them- 
selves of  their  natural  strength  and  natural  freedom,  and  go 
int©  a  state  of  bondage  and  responsibility  to  the  common 
sense  or  recorded  conscience  of  those  amongst  whom  they 
dwell.  Now  here  again  we  remark,  that  were  there  not 
judgment  days,  no  wisdom  nor  wise  administration  could 
protect  the  law  from  being  trampled  under  foot  of  men. 
You  might  preach  obedience  at  every  corner,  and  show  how 
it  promotes  the  good  of  each,  by  securing  the  welfare  and 
peace  of  the  whole  ;  but  it  were  vain,  had  you  not  a  regular 
roll  made  up  of  the  offenders,  and  a  regular  assize  holden  of 
their  offences,  and  proper  sentences  adjuged  to  their  trans- 
gression. Some  would  always  be  found  ignorant  enough 
not  to  comprehend  their  own  well-being  secured  in  the  com- 
mon weal — others  wilful  enough  to  provide  for  themselves 
at  the  expense  of  the  common  weal,  and  therefore  measures 
must  be  taken  that  the  well-informed  and  well-disposed  suf- 
fer not  at  the  hands  of  the  ignorant  and  the  wicked. — Judg-- 
ment  and  discrimination  must  take  place,  or  the  whole  nlat- 
form  of  a  well-ordered  state  will  be  speedily  underminea. 

What  hath  been  said  of  our  living  under  constant  respon- 
sibility to  law  and  judgment  in  the  family  and  in  the  state, 
is  no  les^  true  of  the  many  other  relationships  which  pre- 
serve and  comfort  life.  Those  of  servant  to  master,  and 
wife  to  husband,  we  do  not  speak  of,  because  they  are  in 
some  measure  under  cognizance  of  the  law  ;  yet  who  does 
not  know  that  our  happiness  in  them  is  secured  far  more  by 
unseen  and  unknown  acts  of  mutual  obligation  between  the 
parties,  and  that  an  interior  state  of  responsibility  becomes 
generated  of  its  own  accord.  A  master  hath  enjoyment  in 
his  household  according  as  he  fulfils  to  them  kindly  and 
faithfully  his  duties  of  encouragement,  and  his  duties  of  dis- 
couragement, from  which  when  he  withdraws  his  care,  he 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  85 

ceases  to  be  respected  ;  confusion  introduces  itself  into  the 
establishment,  and  disputes  arise  which  call  for  the  adjudi- 
cation of  law.  In  friendships,  there  are  distinct  obligations 
contracted  of  love  and  fidelity  and  mutual  assistance,  which 
not  being  discharged  by  either  party,  he  is  adjudged  unwor- 
thy and  cut  off  from  our  intimacy.  In  private  circles  of  ac- 
quaintance, there  is  imposed  another  set  of  obligations,  those 
of  hospitality,  good  breeding,  and  general  good  offices ;  which 
being  violated,  the  offender  is  marked,  and  perhaps  excom- 
municated from  the  privileges  of  the  society.  In  the  gene- 
ral acknowledgments  of  politeness,  such  as  street  salutation, 
which  is  the  loosest,  largest  kind  of  society,  there  are  im- 
posed manifold  obligations  of  good  behaviour,  good  temper, 
and  even  appearance  suitable  to  our  condition,  of  which  a 
loose  account  and  an  occasional  reckoning  is  kept. 

These  instances  may  serve  to  show  how  familiar  the  mind 
of  man  is  to  the  feeling  of  responsibility,  and  how  full  his 
life  is  of  its  exercise  ;  how  he  regulates  himself  after  a  law 
expressed  or  understood,  and  submits  the  issues  of  his  cha- 
racter and  his  condition  to  judgment  and  arbitration,  and  is 
himself  the  judge  and  arbitrator  of  the  character  and  condi- 
tion of  others.  They  also  serve  to  show  how  necessary  to 
the  well-being  of  every  society  is  a  judgment  of  the  mem- 
bers, and  a  punishment  of  the  offenders.  Nothing  will  do  in 
its  room — in  the  family  state,  where  are  our  strongest  affec- 
tions, judgment  is  needed  ;  in  the  political  state,  where  are 
vested  our  strongest  interests,  judgment  is  needed ;  in  our 
household  state,  where  are  vested  our  dearest  enjoyments, 
judgment  is  needed  ;  in  our  friendly  state,  where  are  vested 
our  chief  confidences,  judgment  is  needed  ;  in  our  social 
state,  whence  flow  all  mutual  attentions,  judgment  is  needed. 

And  while  I  thus  argue  the  necessity  of  judgment,  I  am 
willing  to  allow  that  in  each  of  these  states,  it  is  the  last 
thing  which  should  be  resorted  to,  and  should  rather  stand 
at  the  gate  to  guard  the  sanctuaries  of  society  from  evil  in- 
trusion, than  enter  in  to  regulate  the  service.  Family  duties 
should  be  fed  with  affection,  political  duties  with  the  promo- 
tion of  interest,  friendly  duties  with  unbosomed  confidence, 
and  duties  of  acquaintanceship  with  good  and  kindly  offices. 
The  terrors  of  judgment  should  stand  to  a  side,  and  not  in- 
terfere till  the  others  have  failed  to  preserve  harmony  and 
peace.  Severity  should  be  the  last  act  of  man  towards  his 
brother  men,  as  suspicion  should  be  the  last  sentiment  he  ad- 
mits into  his  bosom.  Yet  just  as  it  doth  not  hinder  us  from 
keeping  our  eyes  open  to  investigate  the  truth,  that  we  know 

12 


86  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

such  investigations  do  often  lead  to  suspicion,  it  ought  not 
to  hinder  our  hearts  from  discharging  copiously  their  streams 
of  affection  ;  that  we  know  it  doth  in  the  end  often  lead  to 
judge  and  condemn  the  niggard  and  unfair  return  of  others. 
The  conclusion  is,  that  from  no  existing  state  wherein  man 
stands  related  to  man,  can  judgment  and  execution  of  judg- 
ment be  spared,  though  they  ought  never  to  be  introduced 
till  all  other  measures  have  failed.  Bearing  this  conclusion 
in  mind,  let  us  go  forward  to  examine  the  responsibility 
whereto  God  hath  subjected  us. 

He  hath  given  a  law  for  the  regulation  of  the  heart  and 
life  of  man,  and  hath  been  at  pains  to  make  it  manifest  as 
being  from  himself,  by  visitation  of  angels  and  of  his  own 
awful  presence,  by  inspiration  of  holy  men  whom  he  clothed 
with  heavenly  powers — and,  finally,  by  the  hands  of  his  own 
son,  whom  he  raised  from  the  dead  and  took  up  into  heaven 
until  the  restitution  of  all  things.  With  these  tokens  of  its 
being  his  will,  it  is  offered  to  the  world,  to  take  it  or  not  as 
they  please.  Some  have  never  had  the  offer  of  it,  with 
whose  case  we  have  not  to  deal.  We  have  had  the  offer  of 
it,  and  in  our  next  discourse  we  are  to  examine  whether  it 
will  do  us  good  to  accept  it,  or  whether  there  be  in  it  any 
thing  to  disconcert  the  nature  of  man.  In  the  mean  time, 
we  go  into  the  previous  question  upon  what  God  builds  his 
claim  to  prescribe  to  us  in  any  form,  and  by  what  feelings 
the  sense  of  responsibility  in  this  new  instance  is  bound  upon 
our  minds. 

Now,  in  turning  over  the  sacred  books  to  examine  into 
this  previous  question,  we  find  them  full  of  various  informa- 
tion concerning  the  interest  which  God  hath  taken  in  man 
from  the  very  first,  and  the  schemes  which  he  hath  on  foot 
to  ameliorate  our  state,  the  desire  he  hath  to  contribute  to 
our  present  happiness,  and  the  views  he  hath  for  our  future 
glory.  He  presents  himself  as  our  father,  who  first  breathed 
into  our  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  ever  since  hath 
nourished  and  brought  us  up  as  children. — He  declares  him- 
Belf  to  have  prepared  the  earth  for  our  habitation ;  and  for 
our  sakes  to  have  made  its  womb  teem  with  various  food, 
with  beauty  and  with  life. — For  our  sakes  no  less  he  gar- 
nished the  heavens  and  created  the  whole  host  of  them  with 
the  breath  of  his  mouth,  bringing  the  sun  forth  from  his 
chamber  every  morning  with  the  joy  of  a  bridegroom  and  a 
giant's  strength,  to  shed  his  cheerful  light  over  the  face  of 
creation,  and  draw  blooming  life  from  the  bosom  of  the 
earth. — From  him  also  was  derived  the  wonderful  work- 


I 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  87 


inanship  of  our  frames — ^the  eye,  in  whose  orb  of  beauty  is 
pencilled  the  whole  orbs  of  heaven  and  of  earth,  for  the 
mind  to  peruse  and  know  and  possess  and  rejoice  over,  even 
as  if  the  whole  univ^se  were  her  own — the  ear,  in  whose 
vocal  chambers  are  entertained  harmonious  numbers,  the 
melody  of  rejoicing  nature,  the  welcomes  and  salutations  of 
friends,  the  whisperings  of  love,  the  voices  of  parents  and  of 
children,  with  all  the  sweetness  and  the  power  that  dv/ell 
upon  the  tongue  of  man. — His  also  is  the  gift  of  the  beating 
heart,  flooding  all  the  hidden  recesses  of  the  human  frame 
with  the  tide  of  life, — his  the  cunning  of  the  hand,  whose 
workmanship  turns  rude  and  raw  materials  to  such  pleasant 
forms  and  wholesome  uses, — his  the  whole  vital  frame  of 
man,  which  is  a  world  of  wonders  within  itself,  a  world  of 
bounty,  and,  if  rightly  used,  a  world  of  finest  enjoyments. — 
His  also  are  the  mysteries  of  the  soul  within — the  judg- 
ment, which  weighs  in  a  balance  all  contending  thoughts, 
extracting  wisdom  out  of  folly,  and  extricating  order  from 
confusion ;  the  memory,  recorder  of  the  soul,  in  whose 
books  are  chronicled  the  accidents  of  the  changing  world, 
and  the  fluctuating  moods  of  the  mind  itself;  fancy,  the 
eye  of  the  soul,  which  scales  the  heavens  and  circles  round 
the  verge  and  circuits  of  all  possible  existence ;  hope,  the 
purveyor  of  happiness,  which  peoples  the  hidden  future 
with  brighter  forms  and  happier  accidents  than  ever  possess- 
ed the  present,  offering  to  the  soul  the  foretaste  of  every 
joy;  affection,  the  nurse  of  joy,  whose  full  bosom  can  cherish 
a  thousand  objects  without  being  impoverished,  but  rather 
replenished,  a  storehouse  inexhaustible  towards  the  brother- 
hood and  sisterhood  of  this  earth,  as  the  storehouse  of  God 
is  inexhaustible  to  the  universal  world ;  and  conscience,  the 
arbitrator  of  the  soul,  and  the  touchstone  of  the  evil  and  the 
good,  whose  voice  within  our  breast  is  the  echo  of  the  voice 
of  G»d. — These,  all  these,  whose  varied  action  and  move- 
ment constitutes  the  maze  of  thought,  the  mystery  of  life, 
the  continuous  chain  of  being — God  hath  given  us  to  know 
that  we  hold  of  his  hand,  and  during  his  pleasure,  and  out 
of  the  fulness  of  his  care. 

It  is  upon  these  tokens  of  his  affectionate  bounty,  not  up- 
on bare  authority,  command,  and  fear,  that  God  desires  to 
form  a  union  and  intimacy  between' himself  and  the  human 
soul.  As  we  love  our  parents  because  we  derived  our  being 
from  them,  sustenance  and  protection  while  we  stood  in 
need  of  them,  and  afterwards  proof  of  unchanging  and  undy- 
ing love,  so  God  would  have  us  love  him  in  whom  we  live 
and  movQ  and  breathe  aad  have  ouv  being,  and  from  whom 


88  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COMK. 

proceedeth  every  good  and  every  perfect  gift.  And  as  out 
of  this  strong  affection  we  not  only  obey,  but  honour  the 
commandments  of  our  father  and  mother,  so  vi^illeth  he  that 
we  should  honour  and  obey  the  commandments  of  our  fa- 
ther in  heaven.  As  we  look  up  to  a  master  in  whose  house 
we  dwell,  and  at  whose  plentiful  board  we  feed — with  whose 
smiles  we  are  recreated,  and  whose  service  is  gentle  and  sweet 
— so  God  wisheth  us  to  look  up  to  him,  in  whose  replenish- 
ed house  of  nature  he  hath  given  us  a  habitation,  and  fronj 
whose  bountiful  table  of  providence  we  have  a  plentiful  liv- 
ing, and  whose  service  is  full  of  virtue,  health,  and  joy. — 
As  we  love  a  friend  who  took  us  by  the  hand  in  youth,  and 
helped  us  step  by  step  up  the  hill  of  life,  and  found  for  our 
feet  a  room  to  rest  in,  and  for  our  hands  an  occupation  to 
work  at ;  so  God  wisheth  to  be  loved  for  having  taken  us  up 
from  the  womb,  and  compassed  us  from  our  childhood,  and 
found  us  favour  in  the  sight  of  men. — As  we  revere  a  mas- 
ter of  v/isdom,  who  nursed  our  opening  mind,  and  fed  it 
with  knowledge  and  with  prudence,  until  the  way  of  truth 
and  peacefulness  lay  disclosed  before  us  ;  so  God  wisheth  us 
to  be  revered  for  giving  to  our  souls  all  the  faculties  of 
knowledge^  and  to  nature  all  the  hidden  truths  which  these 
faculties  reveal.  In  truth,  there  is  not  an  excellent  attach- 
ment by  which  the  sons  of  men  are  bound  together,  which 
should  not  bind  us  more  strongly  to  God,  and  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  all  generous  and  noble  sentiments  towards  him 
within  the  mind — of  all  loving,  dutiful,  reverential  conduct 
towards  him  in  our  outward  walk  and  conversation. 

Therefore  we  greatly  err  when  we  imagine  his  revelation 
to  be  nothing,  save  a  code  of  laws  and  statutes  enforced  by 
awful  authority  and  awful  judgment  to  come.  Doubtless 
it  contains  a  code  of  laws,  but  these  laws  set  in  the  bosom 
of  a  thousand  noble  sentiments  and  warm  affections  and  ge- 
nerous promises  towards  us — such  as  are  wont  to  catch  and 
captivate  and  ravish  the  spirit  when  uttered  by  a  mortal — 
why  they  should  not  when  uttered  by  the  great  immortal, 
eternal,  and  invincible,  I  know  not,  except  that  we  are 
so  lost  in  bustle  and  agitation  as  seldom  to  be  in  sufficient 
repose  to  hear  and  meditate  his  voice.  No  one  calls  filial 
obedience,  friendly  offices,  grateful  returns,  honourings  of 
the  wise,  tribute  to  the  good — no  one  calleth  these  bondage  ; 
they  are  the  effusions  of  generous  hearts,  the  aspirations  of 
noble  desires,  and  the  sure  promise  of  future  excellence  ; 
and  he  who  can  afford  them  not  and  calls  them  bondage,  is 
himself  a  boadsman  to  his  niggard  selfii^hness   and  his 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  -89 

wretched  temper.  No  more  shall  any  one  call  veneration 
of  God  the  common  father — gratitude  to  God  the  common 
giver — obedience  of  God  the  great  fountain  of  wisdom — de*« 
votion  to  God  the  length  of  our  days  and  the  strength  of 
our  life, — call  these  most  exalted  most  refined  sentiments  of 
the  soul,  bondage,  slavery,  and  blind  subserviency  ;  or  I 
hold  him  heartless,  thoughtless,  and  unholy — a  man  divest- 
ed of  his  crown  of  glory,  blind  to  the  excellencies  of  the 
earth,  deaf  to  the  harmonies  of  nature,  dead  and  insensible 
to  the  ebbs  and  flows,  the  wants  and  the  possessions  of  hu- 
man life. 

Let  no  one  accuse  God  of  tyranny  or  self-willedness,  or 
wrest  him  from  his  fatherly  seat  of  affection  and  bounty 
among  his  children,  to  instate  him  in  a  throne  of  stern  and 
unreasonable  sovereignty,  from  being  a  most  generous  pa- 
rent and  patron,  convert  him  into  a  frowning  judge,  because 
he  hath  seen  it  necessary,  when  presenting  his  scheme  of 
government  unto  men,  to  introduce  into  it  the  judgment  of 
all  and  the  punishment  of  the  rebellious — two  conditions 
which  we  found  were  never  wanting  in  any  kind  of  society 
or  association.  If  a  son  complains  not  against  his  father 
for  entering  among  his  affections  both  command,  inquiry 
and  judgment — if  a  subject  complain  not  against  the  law 
for  entering  amongst  its  wise  and  wholesome  provisions  in- 
terdicts, t^ireats  and  penalties — if  a  friend  is  content  to  re- 
cognise the  obligations  and  to  bow  contented  to  the  dissolu- 
tion of  friendship,  as  well  as  to  taste  its  enjoyments.  And 
so  of  love,  of  marriage,  of  intimacy,  of  acquaintance,  and 
every  other  form  of  union,  fast  or  loose,  why,  in  the 
name  of  consistency,  will  any  one  revolt  that  God,  when  he 
presented  every  tie  of  affection,  duty  and  interest,  and 
sought  to  come  about  the  heart  by  every  fond  enticement, 
did  also  add  the  other  element  of  all  relationship,  that' if  we 
failed^  were  obstinate  and  rebellious,  there  should  be  an  ap» 
count  and  a  punishment. 

Had  there  not  been  such  an  account  and  punishment, 
God  might  have  spared  his  pains  in  promulgating  any  laws 
for  the  guidance  of  man.  For  it  has  been  well  shown  by 
the  greatest  philosopher,  and  perhaps  the  best  man*  that 
England  hath  produced,  that  a  law  is  nothing  unless  it  be 
supported  by  rewards  and  punishments.  And  certainly 
there  never  was  a  law  upon  the  earth  that  was  not  so  sup- 
ported.    But  if  these  laws  of  God  were  mere  expressions  of 

*  Locke— in  the  Essay  on  Humai)  UnJ^rstancJbg'. 


90  01  JUDGMENT  TO  COxME. 

his  will,  not  consultations  for  our  welfare,  having  more  of 
rigour  in  them  than  was  necessary,  harassing  life  out  of  its 
natural  joy  and  contentment,  and  reducing  us  all  into  an  un- 
manly servitude — then  there  might  be  reason  to  complain  of 
inquisitorial  judgment  and  undue  severity.  But  waving 
the  right  of  the  Creator  to  have  his  will  out  of  his  crea- 
ture, which  is  an  argument  God  never  uses,  except  when 
the  creature  sets  himself  into  a  most  daring  attitude-jr(I 
know  only  once  in  scripture  it  is  used,  in  the  ixth  of  the 
Romans,  against  a  most  inveterate  and  incorrigible  fault- 
finder and  objector,  whom  there  was  no  other  way  of  bring- 
ing under) — waving  God's  right,  which  he  seldom  rests  his 
commandments  upon,  it  is  most  apparent  from  the  whole 
tenor  of  Scripture,  that  the  happiness  of  the  creature,  not 
his  own  will,  is  his  aim.  He  had  thrones,  and  dominions, 
-and  principalities,  and  powers  enow  to  rule  over,  if  it  was 
power  he  wanted.  He  could  have  created  another  world  in 
room  of  this,  if  he  had  fovmd  his  empire  incomplete.  He 
could  have  rid  the  universe  of  us  if  we  had  been  an  eyesore 
to  him — or  put  us  out  of  the  way  as  he  did  the  angels  that 
kept  not  their  first  estate.  It  was  an  interest  in  us,  a 
deep  and  pathetid  interest,  which  moved  him  to  interfere  so 
often,  and  draw  us  out  of  sin  under  his  own  good  govern- 
ment— to  commission  counsellor  after  counsellor,  and  to 
part  at  length  with  his  own  well-beloved  Son.  It  is  mani- 
fest from  the  whole  tendency  and  language  of  the  revelation, 
that  it  is  intended  for  our  happiness.  Its  name  is  the 
Gospel,  that  is,  good  news — it  sets  forth  redemption,  that  is, 
deliverance  out  of  slavery — salvation,  that  is,  keeping  from 
the  power  of  evil,  forgiveness,  comfort,  and  consolation.  It 
summoneth  to  glory  and  renown,  to  victory  and  triumph, 
and  an  immortal  crown.  It  commandeth  not  to  penance  or 
monastic  severity,  but  to  honest,  comely  deeds  ;  forbideth 
dishonesty,  dishonour,  and  untruth  ;  encourageth  love  and 
kindness  ;  hateth  hardness  of  heart  and  harshness  of  beha- 
viour ;  breathes  gentleness,  peace,  and  charity  ;  renounces 
strife,  war,  and  bloodshed;  knowledge  it  encourages,  pu- 
rity and  love  still  more  :  all  these  virtuous  and  worthy  quali- 
ties of  heart  and  life  it  sustains  and  crowns  with  the  pro- 
mise of  life  and  blessedness  everlasting.  The  spirit  of  the 
law  therefore,  is  to  rejoice  the  heart,  to  convert  the  soul,  to 
enlighten  the  eyes,  and  give  understanding  to  the  simple. 
And,  if  we  had  leisure  to  trace  its  effects  upon  the  world, 
we  should  find  that  it  hath  tended  in  every  instariice  to  pro- 
mote its  happiness  and  prosperity. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  91 

Here  then  is  an  argument  which  the  law  hath  within 
itself,  in  addition  to  these  many  obligations  mentioned 
above,  which  the  author  hath  upon  us  for  all  his  bountiful 
gifts.  It  is  not  only  the  voice  of  God  our  parent,  preserver, 
patron,  and  friend — but  it  is  the  devise  of  wisdom  for  se- 
curing the  welfare  of  the  world.  It  is  bound  upon  us  not 
only  by  early  and  affectionate  ties  of  nature,  but  by  ties  of 
interest — not  only  a  bond  upon  the  heart,  but  a  preser- 
vative of  peace  between  man  and  man,  and  the  insurance  of 
the  common  safety.  Thus  it  hath  in  it  all  that  gives  to  po- 
litical government  reverence  and  authority.  It  is  a  consti- 
tution of  social  intercourse  for  the  wide  world,  leaguing 
men  together  in  community — owning  no  locality  of  juris- 
diction or  separation  of  interests,  but  embracing  human 
nature,  every  where,  extending  from  pole  to  pole,  and 
round  the  five  zones  of  the  earth.  Now,  among  the  ma- 
ny causes,  well  or  ill-grounded,  against  any  political  in- 
stitution, I  never  heard  any  one  murmur  against  tribunals  of 
justice  and  execution  of  judgment.  No  one  ever  imagined 
that  a  state  could  stand  without  a  judge  and  a  punishment. 
The  mode  may  be  objected  against — the  facility  or  severity 
—but  the  necessity  of  the  thing  was  never  questioned.  On 
the  same  ground,  it  is  necessary  to  the  stability  and  exten- 
sion of  this  universal  law  for  the  hearts  and  lives  of  men. 

While  I  thus  argue  from  all  kind  of  analogies  the  reason- 
ableness and  pleasure  of  responsibility  to  God,  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  judgment  in  the  divine  as  in  the  human  procedure, 
I  am  willing  to  admit  that  here  also  punishment  should  be 
the  last  direful  resource,  only  to  be  called  in  when  every 
thing  else  has  failed.  Man  should  be  tried  by  every  means 
before  you  have  recourse  to  the  cruelty  of  punishment.  Ad- 
dress every  nobler  part  before  you  make  your  appeal  to  fear — 
work  upon  him  by  every  argument  to  change  his  course,  be- 
fore you  pass  a  sentence  upon  him  which  cuts  him  off  froni 
repentance,  and  makes  an  end  of  his  prospects  for  ever.  Now 
I  fearlessly  appeal  to  the  knowledge  and  experience  of  every 
one,  if  God  is  not  slow  to  judgment,  and  patient  to  pursue 
every  method  of  grace  and  love — willing  to  take  repentance 
at  any  season,  to  wipe  all  past  misdemeanors  away,  so  that 
we  will  turn  and  behave  towards  him  with  affection.  In  this 
respect,  the  divine  government  surpasses  all  other  govern- 
ments whatever.  A  father  will  take  his  prodigal  son  back 
to  his  bosom,  and  forget  in  the  transports  of  his  affection,  all 
the  follies  of  a  child  who  was  lost  and  now  is  found.  But  a 
father  will  not  do  this  many  times ;  once  and  again,  and  per- 


92  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

adventure  thrice.  But  if  he  find  promises  vain,  confidence 
betrayed,  and  affection  unanswered,  he  is  compelled  for  the 
credit  of  his  house  and  the  sustenance  of  parental  authority, 
to  bid  the  perverse  youth  begone,  and  to  cut  him  off  from  his 
inheritance.  So  also  in  every  other  association,  whether  of 
nature  or  of  compact.  Political  administrations  are  less  pa- 
tient, because  it  is  not  private  aflfection  but  common  interest 
they  steer  upon,  yet  even  there  a  first  offence  hath  mitigation 
of  punishment,  perhaps  forgiveness — a  second  sometimes 
commutation  of  punishment — but  an  old  offender,  one  in  ha- 
bit and  repute  an  offender,  gets  the  heavier  doom.  Private 
friendship  will  hardly  cement  again  when  its  duties  have 
been  once  violated.  In  business,  one  who  hath  been  dishon- 
est to  his  engagements  is  not  easily  trusted  the  second  time. 
There  is  need  for  a  sharp  outlook  in  all  the  affairs  of  life  ; 
and  though  Mercy  hath,  we  trust,  often  a  glorious  pre-emi- 
nence in  men's  hearts  as  in  God's,  still  she  cannot  bear  to  be 
trampled  on  or  abused  ;  otherwise  she  steps  to  a  side,  and 
lets  Justice  with  her  scales  and  sword  come  in  to  weigh  and 
determine.  But,  in  God  mercy  rejoiceth  over  judgment. 
All  a  man's  lifetime  is  the  reign  of  grace.  Till  he  closes  his 
eyes  mercy  weeps  over  him,  to  melt  his  stony  heart.  God's 
own  Son,  whose  daughter  Mercy  is,  weeps  over  him  to  melt 
his  stony  heart — He  shows  to  him  his  wounds,  and  his  cross, 
telling  him  he  hath  died  once,  and  could  die  again  to  save 
him.  There  is  no  argument  he  does  not  use — calling  upon 
us  by  our  ancient  noble  stock  from  God  derived,  not  to  de- 
generate— calling  upon  us  by  all  heavenly  affections  lurking 
still  within  us,  love  of  excellence,  gratitude  for  favours,  de- 
sire of  self-satisfaction  and  inward  peace,  to  attach  ourselves 
to  God — calling  upon  us  by  the  assurance  of  a  glorious  re- 
generation, and  reinstatement  in  the  divine  image  through 
the  powerful  operation  of  the  Spirit,  to  cleave  unto  the  Lord  ; 
—finally,  calling  upon  us  by  an  unspeakable  weight  of  glory 
to  be  revealed  in  heaven,  to  persevere  in  the  service  of  God. 
There  is  nothing  noble,  nothing  tender,  nothing  spirit-stir- 
ring, which  the  Son  of  man  doth  not  address  unto  his  breth- 
ren. His  words  drop  over  them  like  the  tears  of  a  mother 
over  her  darling  child.  He  watches  and  waits  for  their  late 
return — he  comes  to  their  sick-bed  suing,  and  to  their  death- 
bed he  comes  praying.  He  stands  at  the  door  of  every  heart, 
and  knocks.  Our  enemies  he  fought  unto  the  death,  and  he 
hath  conquered  them  in  death.  He  hath  singly  beat  our  ty- 
rants, and  put  into  every  man's  hand  a  patent  of  his  liberty. 
And  now  he  goeth  about  and  about  amongst  us,  rousing  us 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  93 

with  songs  and  sweet  melody  to  rise  from  slavery  and  be 
ourselves  again.  He  asks  nothing  of  us  for  what  he  hath 
done — ^he  lays  on  no  new  mastery — but  shows  the  ways  of 
heaven  and  of  sinless  happy  creatures,  and  craves  us  by  the 
memory  of  his  death,  and  by  our  own  eternal  life — all  our  life 
long  craves  us  to  be  ourselves  again,  to  be  the  noble  sons  of 
God  as  our  father  was. 

Is  this  a  reign  of  terror  ?  a  reign  of  judgment  ?  a  reign  of 
punishment  ?  What  then  is  a  reign  of  mercy,  persuasion, 
and  forgiveness  ? — He  takes  no  hostages  of  you,  lays  on  no 
fines  for  the  past,  no  penalties  for  the  future — free  forgive- 
ness even  unto  the  end,  unto  sincere  repentance.  Surely 
God  is  slower  to  judgment  than  man  is — Surely  unto  the  last 
he  putteth  off — Surely  there  is  not  any  thing  he  would  not  do, 
sooner  than  bring  it  to  the  grand  and  finishing  crisis. 

The  argument  of  this  discourse  thus  completes  itself. 
Man  it  seems  by  all  his  institutions  for  securing  his  welfare 
is  made  for  responsibility,  and  for  submitting  himself  to 
judgment,  when  all  other  methods  fail  of  preserving  the 
peace.  This  is  the  nature  of  man,  wherever  he  is  found  and 
into  whatever  community  he  enters.  God,  legislating  for 
man,  hath  adapted  himself  to  this  his  nature,  placing  him  un- 
der responsibility  ;  yet  taking  every  measure  of  his  wisdom, 
and  applying  to  every  faculty  of  human  nature  by  each  kind- 
ly, noble  method,  to  secure  sweet  harmony  ;  putting  off  is- 
sues of  judgment  to  the  last,  and  not  ringing  the  knell  of 
doom  until  every  other  note  and  signal  hath  entirely  failed 
to  have  effect.  Therefore,  he  having  taken  that  course 
which  men  uniformly  take  and  admire,  is  devoutly  to  be 
adored  for  accommodating  himself  so  sweetly  to  our  nature 
and  our  condition. 


13 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 


PART  II. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  UNDER  WHICH  IT  HATH  PLEASED  GOB 
TO  PLACE  THE  WORLD. 


Having  shown  at  length  in  our  former  discourse  that  it  is 
not  unpleasant  to  the  nature  of  man,  nor  uncongenial  with 
the  softest,  tenderest  relations  of  human  life,  to  be  held  un- 
der responsibility  to  God,  and  amenable  to  his  future  judg- 
ment,— we  now  proceed  to  examine  the  constitution  under 
which  he  hath  actually  placed  us,  and  upon  which  he  is  to 
enter  into  judgment  with  the  sons  of  men.  For  God,  who 
in  this  respect  might  be  a  pattern  to  all  lawgivers,  hath  so 
contrived  it  in  his  wisdom,  that  his  laws  and  ordinances 
should  be  within  narrow  compass,  and  he  hath  brought  them 
by  his  providence  within  the  reach  of  small  expense,  while 
in  his  wisdom  he  hath  written  them,  so  that  he  who  runneth 
may  read,  and  the  way-faring  man,  though  a  fool,  shall  not 
err  therein.  Upon  man  therefore,  the  knowledge  of  them  is 
incumbent ;  and  surely  he  will  not  hold  us  guiltless  if  we  re- 
fuse to  lend  our  ear  to  the  hearing  of  those  words  which  he 
hath  been  at  so  much  pains  to  reveal.  Let  us,  therefore, 
gird  up  the  loins  of  our  mind,  and  draw  near  with  full  pur- 
pose to  discover  what  the  Lord  our  God,  our  Creator  and 
our  preserver,  our  father  and  our  friend,  requireth  of  his 
children,  in  order  that,  if  we  find  it  good  and  wholesome  to 
our  nature,  we  may  walk  before  him  in  the  cheerful  obedi- 
ence of  an  enlightened  and  convinced  mind.  For  while  alle- 
giance to  any  constitution,  human  or  divine,  is  blind  preju- 
dice and  slavery,  so  long  as  you  know  it  not,  neither  are  con- 
vinced of  its  wisdom,  it  doth  become,  when  the  mind  ap- 
proves it  as  right  and  just,  both  dutiful  and  honourable  to 
adhere  to  it ;  and  the  strictest  obedience  is  then  the  greatest 
freedom,  being  emancipation  from  what  the  mind  rejects  and 
obedience  to  that  which  it  approves. 


OF  JUDGMENT   TO    COME.  95 

There  is  a  great  peculiarity  in  the  divine  constitution,  and 
a  great  difficulty  in  bringing  it  completely  before  the  mind  ; 
not  because  of  the  number  of  its  details,  but  because  of  that 
intermixture  of  justice  and  mercy  in  which  God  hath  made 
it  to  consist.  And  yet,  if  he  open  our  mind  to  comprehend, 
and  guide  our  pen  to  express  the  wonderful  harmony  of 
these  its  parts,  and  the  wise  adaptation  of  the  whole  to  the 
present  condition  and  faculties  of  man,  we  shall  present  the 
purest,  the  most  just,  the  most  merciful  institute  under  which 
man  can  live,  and  to  which  the  mind  will  spontaneously  of- 
fer the  witness  of  every  good  and  noble  sentiment. 

The  first  office  which  the  Christian  lawgiver  discharged, 
was  to  take  to  task  the  principles  upon  which  men  had  been 
wont  to  regulate  their  sentiments  and  actions,  and  to  substi- 
tute in  their  stead  others  by  which  they  should  be  governedA 
This  discourse,  delivered  upon  the  mount,  which  contains  the 
spirit  of  his  discipline,  divides  itself  into  two  parts  : — First, 
of  outward  or  overt  acts — Secondly,  of  inward  sentiments 
and  feelings. 

Amongst  outward  acts,  he  gives  the  first  place  to  the  in- 
flicting of  injuries.  The  law  current  in  his  day,  and  still 
current  in  all  well-governed  societies,  that  whosoever  killed 
another  should  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment,  he  refines 
upon,  by  threatening  both  judgment  here  and  hell  hereaf- 
ter, to  every  one  who,  without  a  cause,  should  allow  him- 
self in  anger  against  his  brother,  or  rate  him  for  a  fool ; — 
thus  striking  at  the  root  of  injuries,  by  prohibiting  the  hot 
and  hasty  language  in  which  they  originate,  crushing  quar- 
rels in  the  bud,  by  making  the  first  outbreak  of  them  as  cri- 
minal as  their  most  lamentable  termination.  The  second 
place  he  gives  to  the  retaliating  of  injuries,  upon  which  the 
lex  talionis — an  eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth — was  the 
current  maxim  of  his  day,  as  it  is  still.  This  he  utterly  ab- 
rogates, forbidding  to  resent  or  even  to  resist  evil,  but  to  re- 
pay it  with  good  ; — a  law  which,  being  understood  in  the 
letter,  would  abrogate  all  law,  making  us  slaves  to  the  worst 
of  masters,  the  evil  passions  and  ungoverned  wills  of  the 
wicked  ; — but  being  understood  in  the  spirit,  forbids  all  re- 
venge of  injury,  and  all  defence  which  proceeds  in  the  spirit 
of  revenge  ;  not  prohibiting  self-defence,  nor  suits  for  jus- 
tice, nor  restrainings  of  wickedness  ;  but  cautioning  us  to 
proceed  in  these  with  a  benevolent  spirit  for  the  reformation 
of  the  evil-doer,  for  the  maintenance  of  good  order,  and  for 
the  ascertaining  of  righteousness  and  truth.  These  two 
maxims,  which  compose  the  whole  criminal  code  of  Christ, 
if  obeyed,  would  put  a  stop  to  the  inflicting  and  resenting  of 


S6  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 

< 

injuries  from  the  greatest  even  to  the  least.  They  would 
abolish  all  hasty,  heady  quarrels,  reconcile  all  cherished 
grudges  and  projected  retaliations,  and  convert  all  arbitra- 
tions of  diiferences  and  suits  at  law  into  a  cool,  quiet  ex- 
amination of  the  right  and  just,  thus  making  all  questions 
subservient  to  the  ends  of  peace  and  good  order.  In  the 
third  place,  comes  the  intercourse  between  man  and  Woman, 
■where,  as  before,  his  rule  is  to  oppose  the  mischief  in  the 
beginning.  An  impure  word,  an  unchaste  look,  a  lustful  de- 
sire, he  makes  of  equal  die  with  adultery  complete  ;  and  he 
honours  marriage  as  the  holy  threshold  and  sacred  temple  of 
these  affections,  which  being  once  joined,  is  not,  save  on  one 
account,  to  be  dissolved,  without  incurring  the  guilt  of  infi- 
delity in  its  most  atrocious  form.  All  antecedent  life  he 
covers  with  a  robe  of  vestal  purity — all  subsequent  he  binds 
in  a  chain  of  duty  dissolvable  by  nothing  but  one  crime. 
After  these  laws  upon  injury  and  chastity,  come  truthfulness 
and  sincerity  in  our  speech  ;  concerning  which  men  are  wont 
to  make  a  distinction,  sometimes  vowing  with  a  vow,  and 
confirming  with  an  oath,  sometimes  not.  Perceiving  that  the 
effect  of  this  distinction  was  to  cast  into  a  secondary  place 
the  ordinary  every-day  intercourse  of  speech,  upon  which 
mainly  dependeth  the  good  condition  of  life,  he  abrogates  it 
altogether,  and  appoints  that  the  simplest  form  of  assent  and 
denial — yea  and  nay — should  be  strong  and  binding  as  the 
most  solemn  imprecation. 

Having  thus  restrained  insincerity  and  indecency  and  injus- 
tice, in  the  very  germ,  he  goes  on  to  legislate  for  the  unex- 
pressed, unsignified  movements  of  the  inward  man,  which 
all  former  lawgivers  had  thought  to  be  beside  their  office. 
Hatred  and  malevolence  he  prohibits  in  the  very  last  condi- 
tion of  misery  to  which  we  can  be  reduced  by  the  malice  of 
others  ;  for  a  curse  ordering  a  blessing  in  return  ;  for  con- 
tempt, tenderness  ;  for  persecution,  well-doing,  according  to 
the  pattern  of  God,  who  showers  his  blessings  upon  the  evil 
no  less  than  upon  the  good.  Ostentation  and  vanity,  whether 
in  our  religious  duties  or  in  our  natural  gifts,  he  prohibits  j 
•and  enjoins  the  last  degree  of  secrecy  in  prayer,  almsgiving, 
fasting,  and  other  such  avocations.  Avarice,  or  the  spirit  of 
accumulation,  he  denounces  as  the  service  of  mammon,  who 
is  the  antagonist  of  God ;  anticipation  and  foresight  he 
guards  us  against,  lest  they  should  destroy  a  due  respect 
unto  ihe  providence  of  God,  which  feeds  the  raven  and 
clothes  the  lilies  of  the  field.  Busying  ourselves  with  the 
affairs  of  our  neighbours,  or  scanning  a  brother's  failings,  he 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  97 

sets  down  as  the  sign  of  greater  failings  in  ourselves,  which 
he  commands  us  to  redress  ;  giving,  as  the  sum  of  all,  this 
golden  rule,  That  whatsoever  we  would  that  men  should  do 
unto  us,  we  should  do  unto  them. 

Then,  to  confirm  and  sanction  all  the  preceding  laws,  and 
others  in  the  same  strain,  he  allows  of  no  religion,  no  wor- 
ship, which  hath  not  these  practices  and  these  sentiments 
within  its  bosom.  One  nourishing  a  grudge  against  any 
brother,  he  prohibits  from  depositing  a  gift  upon  the  altar  of 
God  ;  one  disobeying  his  commandments  in  the  least  iota, 
and  teaching  men  to  do  so,  he  accounts  least  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  ;  one  who  heareth  them  and  doeth  them  not,  con- 
fiding withal  in  the  future  approbation  of  God,  he  likens  to 
«  man  building  his  house  upon  sand,  which  fell  in  the  hour 
of  need,  and  carried  him  away  in  its  ruins. 

These  laws  differ  from  all  others,  not  only  in  the  original- 
ity of  their  principles,  and  in  the  altitude  to  which  these 
principles  arise,  and  in  the  pervading  extent  to  which  they 
go,  but  in  this,  above  all,  that,  not  resting  the  offence  in  the 
degree  but  in  the  spirit,  they  establish  it  not  by  evidence  of 
fact,  but  by  evidence  of  conscience  anterior  to  fact.  It  is 
in  the  state  of  passionateness  in  the  soul,  not  the  thousand 
passionate  acts  ;  it  is  in  the  state  of  vindictiveness  in  the 
soul,  not  the  thousand  vindictive  acts ;  it  is  in  the  state  of 
wantonness  in  the  soul,  not  the  thousand  impure  acts  ;  it  is 
in  the  state  of  insincerity  in  the  soul,  not  the  thousand 
breaches  of  covenant ; — in  these  first  conceptions  of  evil, 
which  are,  as  it  were,  each  the  root  of  a  wide-branching 
tree,  the  lawgiver  of  Christians  find  the  criminality  to  exist. 
As  if  the  mind  were  a  soil  into  which,  if  these  seeds  be  ad- 
mitted, they  must  necessarily  grow  and  bear  fruit  and  pro- 
pagate their  kind  to  an  indefinite  extent.  Seeing  then  that 
into  the  secret  place  of  the  heart  nothing  penetrates  but  con- 
science and  the  eye  of  God ;  these  two  alone  can  arbitrate 
the  matter.  Evidence,  therefore,  on  which  all  conviction  in 
human  institutions  ought  alone  to  proceed,  is  here  clean  out 
of  the  question.  The  crime  is  perpetrated  long  ere  it  pro- 
claims itself  to  the  perception  of  the  nicest  judge.  The  law 
is  addressed  to  the  spirit  of  man,  from  which  nothing  is  hid 
of  its  own  designs  or  transactions,  of  which  designs  and 
transactions  not  the  thousandth  part  do  see  the  light.  So  that 
Christ's  laws,  though  a  thousand  times  less  numerous,  apply 
to  a  thousand  times  more  cases  than  the  laws  of  man. 

But  a  jurisconsult  would  object  to  this  as  their  greatest 
possible  imperfection.  He  would  say  at  once,  To  what  serv- 


98  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

eth  this  their  saintly  purity,  if  so  be  that  you  cannot  discern 
the  offence,  or  bring  up  the  offender  to  the  bar,  or  if  you  had 
him  there,  could  bring  nothing  home,  unless  a  window  should 
be  opened  into  his  breast  to  reveal  the  lights  and  shadows  of 
his  mind,  or  birds  of  the  air  should' come  and  testify  to  his. 
secret  works  ?  What  availeth  this  canopy  of  perfection,  ex- 
tended so  far  above  the  head  of  all  performance  as  hardly  in 
any  point  to  approximate  it  ?  Why  confound  the  thought  or 
even  the  design  with  the  completed  act  ?  Why  drive  men 
distracted  with  the  crimination  of  what  they  daily  and  hour- 
ly commit  ?  These  your  Christian  laws  are,  in  truth,  pro- 
perly speaking,  no  laws,  but  the  abstract  sentiment  and  dis- 
embodied spirit  of  law,  the  justice  and  the  purity,  upon  the 
steadiness  of  which  law  steers  its  course,  but  which,  like  the 
two  poles  of  the  earth,  are  for  ever  defended  against  all  ap- 
proach. They  cannot  be  applied  by  any  judge,  they  cannot 
be  watched  over  by  any  police,  or  executed  by  any  human 
power.  Evidence  cannot  be  had,  conviction  cannot  be 
brought  home,  and  therefore  no  issue  can  follow.  You  might 
set  up  a  court  of  conscience,  but  courts  of  conscience  have 
uniformly  become  courts  of  injustice  and  oppression. 

Now  as  these  peculiarities,  by  which  the  Christian  is  es- 
sentially distinguished  from  every  other  code,  do  manifest 
that  it  was  not  meant  for  being  adopted  into  the  courts  of 
men  ;  it  becomes  necessary  to  examine  what  is  its  use,  see- 
ing it  cannot  be  enforced,  where  its  proper  field  of  operation 
lies,  and  how  it  bears  upon  those  institutions  which  hold  so- 
ciety together.  From  this  inquiry  it  will  appear,  that  its 
appeal  to  conscience,  and  its  sublime  purity,  are  the  two 
very  qualities  by  which  it  is  fitted  to  gain  ascendancy  and 
awaken  enthusiasm  in  the  heart,  to  become  the  parent  of 
moral  feeling,  and  of  good  character  in  the  individual,  and 
in  the  general  to  patronize  enlightened  obedience  to  every 
wise  social  institution.  In  order  to  exhibit  this  justification 
and  praise,  it  becomes  necessary  to  enter  a  little  into  the  na- 
ture of  statute  law,  that  by  discovering  its  limited  operation, 
we  may  perceive  the  necessity  of  the  Christian  institution 
to  do  for  our  well-being  that  office  to  which  no  written  ex- 
ecuted law  of  man  hath  any  pretence. 

Human  laws,  judged  of  and  executed  by  man,  have  in 
them  properly  no  moral  sanction  whatever,  as  has  been  well 
shown  by  the  shrewdest  jurisconsult,  yet  perhaps  most  limit- 
ed philosopher,  of  the  day.=*  They  make  no  appeal  to  con- 
science, but  to  fact.     Properly  speaking,  they  never  find  the 

*  Mr.  Benthafti. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  99 

verdict  of  innocent,  but  not  proven,  and  when  they  find  a 
verdict  of  guilty,  it  may  or  may  not,  as  it  happens,  be  a 
guilty  act  in  the  eye  of  conscience  and  of  God.  They  aim 
at  nothing  but  the  advancement  of  the  common  weal ;  all 
the  hold,  which  they  have  any  right  to  take  of  their  subjects, 
is  by  their  private  weal,  which  they  can  amerce  or  advan- 
tage ;  and  all  the  guardianship  they  can  have  over  them  is 
but  as  far  as  the  eye  of  their  officers  can  discern  actions, 
their  ear  hear  words  and  their  shrewdness  infer  actions  from 
circumstantial  evidence.  A  man  may  be  clear  before  God, 
whom  nevertheless  law  hath  sentenced  to  the  utmost  igno- 
miny and  loss  ;  of  which  all  martyrs  for  religion's  sake,  all 
sufferers  for  conscience  sake,  are  examples.  But  while  we 
confine  the  observation  of  law  to  outward  uttered  acts,  and 
its  power  to  physical  deprivations,  we  do  not  deny,  that  it  so 
happens  in  all  well  regulated  states,  both  that  immorality  is 
present,  and  ignominy  follows  the  breach  of  law  in  the  gene- 
rality of  cases.  But  this  is  an  accidental  not  a  necessary 
connection.  It  arises  from  the  connection  there  is  between 
moral  purity  and  the  common  weal,  between  right  conduct 
and  real  advantage,  which  connection  the  jurisconsult  al- 
luded to  above,  hath  made  the  basis  of  all  positive  law  ; 
where  he  is  right  ;  and  he  hath  also  made  it  the  basis  of  all 
intercourse  between  man  and  man,  and  of  all  judgments 
which  the  mind  passes  upon  itself,  in  which  he  is  not  only 
wrong  in  making  the  effect  stand  before  the  cause,  but  by 
which  he  would  overthrow,  through  the  corruption  of  the 
individual,  that  very  common-weal,  which  through  the  body 
corporate  his  works  are  so  well  fitted  to  sustain. 

Seeing  then  that  the  laws  of  the  state  do  reach  no  farther 
than  to  observed  acts,  and  do  not  necessarily  bring  self-ac- 
cusation in  their  train,  (which  might  also  be  shown  of  the 
laws  of  the  family,  of  friendship,  of  social  intercourse,  and 
of  every  other  responsibility  of  which  the  eye  of  man  is  the' 
guardian,)  we  ask,  Where  is  the  instrument  for  keeping  in 
check  the  evil  parts  of  human  nature  within  the  breast,  which, 
after  a  period  of  hidden  incubation  there,  hatch  plots  and  per- 
petrations ?  Where  is  the  instrument  for  guiding  a  man  to 
the  good  and  ill  of  affection,  of  desire,  of  ambition,  of  know- 
ledge, of  temper  ;  which  verily  are  the  masters  over  the 
tongue  that  speaks,  and  the  hand  that  performs  ?  Where  is 
the  reward  for  good  conduct,  the  punishment  for  evil  con- 
duct, in  the  little  republic  within  the  breast  ?  There  are  no 
such  provisions  in  any  of  the  institutions  over  which  the  king 
and  the  judge  preside  j  for,  long  ere  human  nature  comes 


100  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

under  their  cognizance,  while  we  are  scions  growing  around 
our  parents,  not  yet  come  under  the  cognizance  of  those  in- 
specting eyes  which  range  abroad  to  distinguish  the  good 
from  the  evil,  even  already  is  the  texture  of  the  future  man 
weaving — the  weaknesses,  the  diseases  of  the  spirit  engen- 
dering— its  strength,  its  beauty  and  its  fruitfulness,  becom- 
ing inplanted.  If  education  mean  any  thing,  it  is  to  train  a 
man  for  fulfilling  the  condition  of  child,  friend,  parent, 
spouse,  master,  servant  and  citizen.  Now,  I  ask,  how  is 
that  education  to  proceed  ?  Are  we  to  bring,  lumbering  into 
the  school,  the  statutes  at  large,  those  musty  volumes  which 
no  living  wight  did  ever  master  ?  There  must  be  something 
more  manageable,  something  that  can  speak  to  intellect  as  it 
grows,  that  can  touch  feeling,  that  can  curb  passion,  that  can 
minister  a  present  reward  to  benevolence,  to  piety  and  ten- 
derness of  heart.  Would  that  jurisconsult,  to  whom  we  have 
alluded,  begin  at  that  time  to  use  calculations  of  ultimate 
utility  to  one  whose  hopes  and  fears  do  not  range  much  fur- 
ther than  to-morrow  or  the  present  day  ? 

Now  the  christian  code  sketched  above  is  suited  to  this 
case  precisely.  It  addresses  itself  to  states  of  feeling,  and 
directs  the  mind  inward  to  observe  them.  It  points  the 
conscience  to  them  the  moment  they  rise,  and  therefore  suits 
with  earliest  life,  which  cares  for  little  but  the  present.  It 
makes  us  familiar  with  the  fountains  of  evil  within,  whence 
issue  the  great  streams  of  wickedness.  It  is  a  grammar  of 
conduct ;  the  ideal  of  perfection ;  which  being  contemplated 
from  the  earliest  age,  will  bring  one  familiar  v^'ith  the  know- 
ledge of  good  and  ill  in  every  relation  of  human  life  ;  and, 
if  practised  from  earliest  age,  will  induce  an  indelible  appro- 
bation of  the  one  and  disapprobation  of  the  other.  Whereas 
if,  without  such  discipline  and  such  application  of  the  great 
maxims  of  purity  and  justice,  you  allow  youth  to  grow  at 
random,  it  will  turn  out  as  difficult  to  bring  it  under  the  re- 
gulation of  the  positive  laws  of  society,  as  it  would  be  to  in- 
troduce at  once  into  the  equestrian's  exercise  of  the  circus, 
the  wild  horse  of  the  Arabian  desert,  which  snufFeth  up  the 
cast  wind  in  the  pride  of  its  boundless  freedom. 

Next,  as  to  their  sublime  and  inaccessible  reach  of  virtue, 
I  hold  this  to  be  one  of  the  chief  points  in  which  the  adapta- 
tion of  the  divine  laws  to  human  nature  is  revealed.  Yes, 
paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  their  application  to  human  na- 
ture is  in  nothing  more  revealed  than  in  their  celestial  and 
ideal  perfection.  For  it  is  the  nature  of  man,  especially  of 
youth,  which  determineth  the  cast  of  future  manhood,  to 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  101 

place  before  him  the  highest  patterns  in  that  kind  of  excel- 
lence at  which  he  aimeth.  Human  nature  thirsteth  for  the 
highest  and  the  best,  not  the  most  easily  attained.  The  fa- 
culty of  hope  is  ever  conjuring  into  being  some  bright  estate, 
far  surpassing  present  possession — the  faculty  of  fancy  ever 
"wingcth  aloft  into  regions  of  ethereal  beauty  and  romantic 
fiction,  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  truth.  There  is  a  re- 
fined nature  in  man,  which  the  world  satisfieth  not :  it  calls 
for  poetry,  to  mix  up  happier  combinations  for  its  use — it 
magnifies,  it  beautifies,  it  sublimes  every  form  of  creation, 
and  every  condition  of  existence.  Oh,  heavens !  how  the 
soul  of  man  is  restless  and  unbound — how  it  lusteth  after 
greatness — how  it  revolveth  around  the  sphere  of  perfection, 
but  cannot  enter  in — how  it  compasseth  round  the  seraph- 
guarded  verge  of  Eden,  but  cannot  enter  in.  That  wo-be- 
gone  and  self-tormented,  wretched  man,  our  poet,  hath  so 
feigned  it  of  Cain  ;  but  it  is  not  a  wicked  murderer's  part 
thus  upwards  to  soar,  and  sigh  that  he  can  go  no  higher : 
but  it  is  the  part  of  every  noble  faculty  of  the  soul,  which 
God  hath  endowed  with  purity  and  strength  above  its  peers. 
For  the  world  is  but  an  average  product  of  the  minds  that 
make  it  up  ;  its  laws  are  for  all  those  that  dwell  therein,  not 
for  the  gifted  few  ;  its  customs  are  covenants  for  the  use  of 
the  many  ;  and  when  it  pleaseth  God  to  create  a  master 
spirit  in  any  kind,  a  Bacon  in  philosophy,  a  Shakespeare  in 
fancy,  a  Milton  in  poetry,  a  Newton  in  science,  a  Locke  in 
sincerity  and  truth — they  must  either  address  their  wondrous 
faculties  to  elevate  that  average  which  they  find  established, 
and  so  bless  the  generations  that  are  to  follow  after  ;  or, 
like  that  much-to-be-pitied  master  of  present  poetry,  and 
many  other  mighty  spirits  of  this  licentious  day,  they  must 
rage  and  fret  against  the  world  ;  which  world  will  dash  them 
off,  as  the  prominent  rocks  do  the  feeble  bark  which  braves 
them,  leaving  them  to  after  ages  monuments  of  wreckless 
folly.  That  same  world  will  dash  them  oif,  which,  if  they 
had  come  with  honest  kind  intentions,  would  have  taken 
them  into  its  bosom  even  as  other  rocks  of  the  ocean,  which 
throw  their  everlasting  arms  abroad,  and  take  within  their 
peaceful  bays  thousands  of  the  tallest  ships  which  sail  upon 
the  bosom  of  the  deep.  It  is,  I  say,  the  nature  of  every  fa- 
culty of  the  mind  created  greater  than  ordinary,  to  dress  out 
a  feast  for  that  same  faculty  in  other  men,  to  lift  up  the 
limits  of  enjoyment  in  that  direction,  and  plant  them  a  little 
further  into  the  regions  of  unreclaimed  thought.  And  so 
it  came  to  pass,  God,  who  possesseth  every  faculty  in  per- 

14 


102  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

fection,  when  he  put  his  hand  to  the  work,  brought  forth 
this  perfect  institution  of  moral  conduct,  in  order  to  perfect 
as  far  as  could  be  the  moral  condition  and  consequent  en- 
joyment of  man. 

Let  the  mind,  from  its  first  dawning,  be  fed  on  matters  of 
fact  alone,  limited  to  the  desire  of  the  needful,  and  to  the  hope 
of  the  attainable,  never  imaginative,  never  speculative  ;  it  will 
become  as  the  physical  condition  of  those  people  who  are  liv- 
ing upon  the  very  edge  of  necessity  becomes,  little  elevated 
above  the  brutes  that  perish.  It  is  illimitable  knowledge 
still  sought  after,  though  unbounded  ;  it  is  high  ambition 
still  longed  after,  though  never  within  reach  ;  and  soaring 
fancy,  dwelling  with  things  unseen,  that  go  to  produce  the 
noble  specimen  of  the  natural  man.  And  it  is  the  very  same 
faculties  employed  upon  things  revealed  that  go  to  produce 
the  foremost  specimen  of  the  renewed  man.  David,  and 
Paul,  and  Isaiah,  such  three  pillars  of  the  church  of  the  liv- 
ing God,  are  not  to  be  named  ;  and  how  noble,  how  heroical, 
how  majestical  were  they  !  I  am  well  aware,  painfully  aware, 
that  the  unwise  and  excessive  culture  of  these  faculties, 
when  divorced  from  nature  instead  of  resting  on  nature, 
when  misinterpreting  revelation  instead  of  believing  revela- 
tion, will  produce  the  sentimental  enthusiast  in  nature  and 
the  fanatic  in  religion.  But,  being  rested  on  nature  and  ex- 
perience, such  discursive  ranges  beyond  things  presently 
practicable  ;  such  longings  after  these  ultimate  powers  and 
attainments  of  manhood  are  necessary,  in  order  that  the 
mind  may  grow  to  stature  and  strength  in  any  department. 

It  is  the  best  prognostic  of  a  youth  to  be  found  so  occu- 
pying himself  with  thoughts  beyond  his  present  power  and 
above  his  present  place.  The  young  aspirant  after  military 
renown  reads  the  campaigns  of  the  greastest  conquerors  the 
world  hath  produced.  The  patriot  hath  Hampden  and 
Russell  and  Sydney  ever  in  his  eye.  The  poet  consumes 
the  silent  hours  of  night  over  the  works  of  masters  in  every 
tongue,  though  himself  hath  hardly  turned  a  rhyme.  The 
noble-minded  churchman  (of  whom  alas  !  there  are  but  few) 
doats  on  the  Hookers  and  the  Gilpins  and  the  Knoxes  of 
past  times.  And  the  stern  unyielding  non-conformist  talks 
to  you  of  Luther  and  Baxter,  and  the  two  thousand  self-de- 
voted priests  (proud  days  these  for  England  !)  And  the  ar- 
tist fills  his  study  with  casts  from  the  antique,  and  drains 
both  health  and  means  to  their  very  dregs  in  pilgrimages  to 
the  shrined  pictures  of  the  masters. 

And  in  moral  purity   alone  shall  we  be  condemned  to 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  103 

drudge  at  every  day's  performance.  In  the  noblest  of  all  the 
walks  of  men,  generosity,  forgiveness,  vestal  chastity,  matri- 
monial fidelity,  incorrupt  truthfulness  and  faith,  shall  we  have 
no  tablets  of  perfection  to  hang  before  the  people,  out  of 
which  they  may  form  their  idea  of  a  perfect  undefiled  man, 
and  after  which  they  may  be  constantly  upon  the  stretch  ? 
Here  alone  shall  we  have  no  room  for  desire  to  range  be- 
yond present  attainment,  no  hope  to  embody  in  the  distant 
future — nothing  to  sigh  after,  or  pray  for — nothing  to  con- 
template, but  the  bloated  pictures  of  life,  the  dwarfish  speci- 
mens of  character  we  behold  around  us?  This  were  most 
fatal  to  those  departments  of  excellence,  upon  which  the  hap- 
piness of  man  turns  more  than  upon  all  the  rest.  But  it  is 
such  a  state  of  things  as  never  can  exist.  Here  also  the  hu- 
man mind  would  have  displayed  her  plastic  powers,  and 
created  specimens  far  above  the  demands  of  law  or  the  cus- 
tomary measures  of  life.  If  God  had  not  interfered,  man 
would  himself  have  asserted  his  own  superiority  to  drudging 
daily  rules,  and  here  also  struck  out  examples  worthy  to  be 
imitated,  and  glorious  to  be  surpassed.  And  these  would 
have  become  the  models  after  which  to  rear  the  youth  cove- 
tous of  moral  grandeur.  But  God,  pitying  the  small  suc- 
cess which  human  nature  had  in  producing  such  specimens 
of  moral  excellence  ;  and  perceiving  how  men  were  lost  for 
want  of  these  high  examples  and  perfect  rules  which  they 
enjoyed  in  other  departments  ;  gave  forth  these  tablets  of 
practical  holiness  ;  which  are  not  surely  the  worse  that  they 
have  come  from  the  bosom  of  God,  and  are  plainly  written 
in  brief  compass,  than  that  they  should  have  dropped  from 
the  fallible  wit  of  man,  and  been  scattered  piece-meal  over 
the  writings  of  different  ages  and  of  distant  lands.  Then, 
because  man  loveth  not  only  the  precept  but  the  example, 
and  kindleth  into  love  and  emulation,  and  other  ardent  s)  m- 
pathies,  when  he  beholds  that  thing  exemplified  which  he 
himself  would  wish  to  be,  God  hath  also  given  Christ  in 
whom  these  perfections  are  concentrated,  and  from  whose 
history  we  can  study  these  beauties  in  example  and  in  life. 
And  thus,'  with  book  in  hand,  and  model  under  our  eye,  we 
can  study  the  perfection  of  the  mind  of  man,  as  the  artist, 
with  descriptions  in  his  hand  and  the  models  before  his  eye, 
studies  the  exact  proportion,  and  accustoms  his  eye  to  the 
beauties  of  external  form. 

These  divine  laws,  which  are  fitted  by  their  simplicity  for 
being  ingrafted  upon  the  very  first  rudiments  of  our  being ; 
and  by  their  elevated  purity  to  excite  an  enthusiasm  after 


104  OF  JUDGiMENT  TO  COME. 

moral  excellence  in  the  mind  of  youth,  are  moreover  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  form  a  basis  upon  which  every  other  spe- 
cies of  obligation,  private  or  public,  may  rest.  Obligations 
of  law,  as  have  been  said,  have  or  ought  to  have  their  basis 
in  the  mutual  interest  which  they  are  made  to  secure,  and 
their  sanction  is  the  deprivation  of  our  share  in  that  mutual 
good,  with  reparation  of  the  loss  that  we  have  occasioned, 
and  submission  to  be  watched  until  we  are  worthy  of  renew- 
ed confidence.  Now,  will  any  man  say  that  a  regard  to  in- 
terest, a  fear  of  loss,  the  sense  of  being  looked  after  and 
watched,  (which  are  the  principles  that  statute  law  calleth 
into  play,)  that  these  are  able  to  work  out  the  good  citizen, 
or  the  good  member  of  a  family,  or  the  good  friend  ?  It  is 
very  fortunate  that  the  idea  of  being  under  statute  law  comes 
so  seldom  over  the  mind,  and  the  sight  of  a  watchful  guar- 
dian of  law  comes  so  seldom  before  the  eye  ;  otherwise  we 
should  become  timorous  and  cunning  like  the  subjects  of 
other  realms,  whose  mind  and  sight  are  so  invaded.  It  is 
fortunate  that  the  sense  of  our  interest  is  often  met  by  other 
sentiments  of  charity,  kindness,  and  generosity,  otherwise 
we  should  become  like  pedlar  merchants,  or  bargain-hunting 
Jews,  in  whose  thoughts  interest  is  always  uppermost.  Now, 
I  ask  the  jurisconsults,  if  a  law  was  ever  made  to  uphold 
charity,  or  compassion ;  to  enforce  generosity,  affection,  or 
other  noble  sentiments  ?  Law  has  nothing  to  do  with  these. 
What  is  it  then  that  hath  to  do  with  them  ?  The  mind  it- 
self: the  mind's  regard  for  it's  own  well-being.  Now,  how 
are  these  to  be  cultivated  ?  Not  by  law  we  see.  By  what 
then  ?  By  the  discipline  of  the  inward  man.  It  must  be 
something  that  withdraws  the  mind  from  the  sense  of  ano- 
ther's observation,  to  the  sense  of  its  own  dignity ;  some- 
thing which  habituates  it  to  the  examination  of  itself.  To 
this  end  a  guide  is  needed  to  distinguish  the  good  from  the 
evil,  which  will  address  itself  at  once  to  consciousness,  say- 
ing,— How  feelest  thou  ?  How  thinkest  thou  ?  How  dost 
thou  stand  affected  ? — and  as  promptly  replying,  Thou  art 
right,  or  Thou  art  wrong. 

Such  a  guide  is  the  law  above  delineated, — teaching 
equity,  chastity,  forgiveness,  fidelity,  modesty  ;  encourag- 
ing to  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  honest,  lovely,  and  of 
good  report ;  cultivating  the  affections,  approving  and  rej 
proving  every  good  and  evil  temper  of  the  mind.  It  is  as 
broad  as  human  life,  and  furnisheth  for  every  station  and  re- 
lation of  life.  It  lays  the  basis  of  noble  character,  and  the 
principles  of  enlightened  obedience  j  it  keeps  every  good 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  105 

sentiment  upon  the  field,  every  bad  one  under  cover.  The 
mind  which  submits  to  its  cultivation  becomes  acquainted 
with  its  own  good  and  evil  parts  ;  and  by  seeing  the  one  al- 
ways in  the  light  of  God's  favour,  the  other  in  the  darkness 
of  his  frown,  approbation  of  the  good  comes  to  be  engender- 
ed, with  disapprobation  of  the  evil  ;  habits  of  well-doing  to 
grow,  and  habits  of  evil-doing  to  decay.  Thus  you  raise  up 
in  the  bosom  of  nature  a  monitor  of  good,  whose  ear  you 
can  address  on  all  future  occasions.  To  this  better  man 
within  the  breast,  who  hath  been  brought  to  life,  and  fostered 
by  celestial  food,  the  father,  the  friend,  the  master,  our  coun- 
try, make  their  future  appeal  for  fidelity  and  duty  ;  and  they 
find  him  to  be  a  stronghold  against  selfishness  and  violence 
and  lust.  But  if  this  advocate  of  the  honourable,  the  duti- 
ful,-and  the  just,  have  been  left  alone  without  counsel  or 
guidance,  he  falls  under  the  domination  of  sensual  and  self- 
ish lasts.  The  enemy  within  the  breast  gets  the  upper  hand 
of  the  little  state,  and  the  father,  the  friend,  the  master,  our 
country,  have  to  dethrone  him  ;  and  thereafter  to  attempt 
the  resurrection  of  their  ally,  whom  they  will  find  dispirited, 
perhaps  annihilated,  through  long  oppression. 

In  proof  of  this,  attend  to  the  difference  between  those  who 
are  educated  under  the  sanction  of  the  eye  of  conscience,  and 
those  who  are  educated  under  the  sanction  of  the  eye  of  man  ; 
and  still  more  those  who  are  educated  under  the  sanction  of 
the  eye  of  law.  The  schools  of  thieves  and  sharpers  and 
knaves  of  every  kind,  are  the  only  instances  I  can  think  of 
people  being  trained  under  the  sanction  of  the  eye  of  law  ; 
and  see  how  little  it  tends  to  reform  them.  According  as 
you  penetrate  into  the  sphere  of  fashion,  you  come  more  and 
more  under  the  sanction  of  the  eye  of  man.  And  the  ten- 
dency of  this  immersion,  every  body  knows,  is  to  corrupt 
sound  and  honest  feeling,  to  bring  on  affectation  and  dis- 
guise, to  empty  the  heart  and  make  it  hollow.  According 
as  you  escape  from  this  orb  into  the  sphere  of  quiet,  domes- 
tic life,  and  approach  towards  religious  life,  you  come  more 
and  more  under  the  sanction  of  the  eye  of  conscience  ;  and 
from  these  regions  it  is  acknowledged  that  society  receives 
her  true  sustenance  and  ornament.  Not  but  the  eye  both 
of  law  and  mankind  may  be  excellent  guardians  of  character, 
when  they  look  severely,  (as  they  do  generally)  upon  wick- 
edness, but  that  it  is  a  slavery  and  degradation  to  the  mind 
to  be  under  any  kind  of  inquisition  or  surveillance.  It  is 
hateful  to  be  watched,  to  be  hunted  out  of  what  is  bad,  and 
to  be  baited  to  what  is  good,  though  it  were  by  the  tender- 


i06  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

est  of  all  authorities,  that  of  a  parent.  For  even  in  family 
regimen  it  is  easy  to  remark  the  difference  between  the 
children  who  have  been  wrought  upon  by  persuasion  and 
conviction,  and  those  who  have  been  compelled  by  dictation 
and  force.  The  mind  abhors  that  its  convictions  should  be 
intermeddled  with,  save  by  endeavours  to  convince.  It  de- 
lights in  one  who  leads  it  by  the  light  of  knowledge  out  of 
all  errors  ;  it  hates  one  who,  by  any  other  instrument,  at- 
tempts the  same  office. 

To  these  instincts  of  nature  Christ's  laws  apply  most 
sweetly,  bringing  in  no  lordly  authority,  but  operating  by 
means  of  affection  and  improvement  and  hope  of  eternal 
gain.  With  these  instruments  they  apply  to  conscience  or 
self-judgment  alone,  setting  on  no  watchman  of  any  kind, 
except  the  observation  of  God,  who  loveth  good  and  hateth 
evil;  who  promoteth  happiness,  and  striveth  that  unhap- 
piness  would  cease.  They  make  the  mind  the  mistress 
of  herself;  they  place  her  own  judgment  of  herself  above 
the  world's — second  only  to  God's  ;  they  take  her  into  con- 
tract with  God,  no  third  party  being  conscious.  She  re- 
joiceth  in  a  liberty  of  her  own,  inward  and  unseen.  She 
contemplateth  her  own  growing  beauty  in  the  mirror  of 
the  divine  law,  and  becomes  enamoured  of  herself — to 
which  the  flattery  of  royal  persons  is  as  nothing.  Her  out- 
ward actions  are  like  the  motions  of  her  limbs,  obedient  to 
an  inward  willingness,  by  no  outward  force  constrained. 
The  law  of  men  is  under  her  feet ;  she  sits  arbitress  over 
all,  obeying  or  disobeying  higher  councils.  Such  intrepid, 
heaven-guided  spirits  give  the  tone  to  law,  when  they  are 
in  sufficient  numbers,  in  any  state.  No  interest  will  tempt 
them  to  obey  the  evil,  no  bribe  to  forego  the  good ;  they 
submit  to  the  spoiling  of  their  goods,  to  the  deprivation  of 
freedom,  to  the  loss  of  life,  rather  than  give  up  any  attribute 
of  this  divine  liberty.  This  is  dangerous  for  laws  which  do 
not  keep  to  God's  councils,  but  auspicious  for  laws  which 
do ;  and  hence  it  hath  come  to  pass,  that,  in  those  lands 
where  Christians  have  made  head,  they  have  turned  to- 
wards their  own  course  the  stubborn  courses  both  of  law 
and  manners.  In  this  land,  for  example,  they  have  disarm- 
ed the  thigh  of  its  weapon,  and  procured  revenge  to  be  ta- 
ken out  of  the  hands  of  the  injured  into  the  hands  of  the 
upright  judge  ; — they  have  made  reformation  to  be  acknow- 
ledged as  the  only  object  of  punishment ; — they  have  abolish- 
ed the  divine  right  of  kings  to  have  their  will  out  of  subjects  ; 
— they  have  almost  got  adultery  to  be  acknowledged  as  the 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  107 

only  righteous  cause  of  divorce ; — they  have  made  the  ac* 
commodation  of  others  to  be  sanctioned  as  the  basis  of  po- 
liteness ; — the  spirit  of  governm§.nt  they  have  forced,  by 
sundry  desperate  efforts,  to  become  equitable,  open,  and  dis- 
closed, instead  of  being,  as  in  the  Italian  and  other  conti- 
nental states,  crooked  and  intriguing. — From  all  which  it  is 
manifest,  that,  in  the  force  of  heaven-directed  will,  there  is 
a  staunchness,  an  intrepidity,  and  a  long-suffering,  which 
brings  out  equity  triumphant  against  injustice,  and  liberty 
against  wilfulness,  forming  a  wall  of  shields  around  what- 
ever is  good  in  human  laws, — smiting,  as  with  a  constant 
battering-ram,  against  every  thing  which  is  evil. 

Much  more  might  be  said  in  praise  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Christian  code,  were  there  not  before  us  a  question  of  far 
greater  moment  which  requires  to  be  resolved,  before  we 
can  proceed  to  the  judgment  which  God  is  to  take  of  its 
fulfilment.  If  judgment  is  to  proceed  upon  the  letter  of  the 
laws  recounted  above,  then  the  world  must  plead  guilty  be- 
fore Him  as  one  man.  For  however  these  laws  commend 
themselves  to  justice  and  goodness  and  truth,  and  with 
whatever  sincerity  we  may  adopt  them  for  our  rule,  we  can- 
not succeed  in  keeping  them,  but  do  daily  break  them  in 
thought,  word,  and  deed.  How  many  malicious  senti- 
ments do  we  entertain  !  How  many  actions  of  our  ene- 
mies do  we  not  forgive  !  How  many  quarrels  and  feuds  do 
we  cherish  !  How  many  wanton  thoughts  pass  through  and 
find  harbour  in  our  minds  !  How  many  of  our  affections 
doat  on  worldly  objects  !  How  much  passion,  how  much 
insincerity,  how  much  censure,  how  much  hypocrisy,  how 
much  revenge !  How  many  of  our  good  actions  are  done 
to  be  seen  of  men,  thought  upon  with  self-complacency,  and 
talked  over  with  vain  delight !  How  consequential  we  be- 
come when  we  get  wealth,  how  imperious  when  we  get  pow- 
er, how  self-conceited  when  we  get  distinction !  How  cove- 
tous before  we  reach  the  desired  haven,  how  envious  and 
inimical  to  those  who  already  hold  it !  These  classes  of 
feelings,  which  are  all  dear  to  nature,  are  directly  opposed 
to  the  laws  of  Christ;  and  if  his  judgment  be  like  other 
judgments,  they  must  every  one  be  proceeded  against.  And 
yet  the  observation  of  life,  and  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
breast,  must  convince  every  man  that  not  upon  one  of  these 
counts,  but  upon  every  one,  the  whole  world  is  guilty. 

But  if  any  one  refuse  this  appeal  which  we  make  to  his 
conscience,  and  hesitate  upon  pleading  guilty  to  the  several 
indictments  recounted  above,  it  must  be  under  the  influence 


108  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

of  some  blindness,  which  we  would  remove  by  lifting  up  the 
veil  of  self-esteem  and  self-interest,  which  hinders  him 
from  seeing  into  the  interior  of  his  breast.  We  would  lie  in 
wait  to  hear  him  descant  upon  the  failings  of  his  neighbour 
— What  a  range  of  vision  he  then  takes  in,  and  how  keenly 
he  discriminates  every  feature  of  the  scene  ;  not  only  conde- 
scending upon  the  wrong  without  hesitation,  but  even  from 
appearance  anticipating  and  calculating  with  most  refined 
skill !  His  moral  tact  is  nicer  than  the  rules  of  the  exactest 
moralist — A  word,  a  look,  an  attitude,  a  gesture,  opens  day- 
light into  the  recesses  of  the  soul.  Now  the  man  who  can 
thus  discriminate  and  denominate  to  the  nicest  shade  of 
moral  turpitude,  and  who  adventures  with  such  alacrity  and 
self-sufficiency  to  the  work  of  moral  criticism  upon  the 
moral  Characters  around  him,  is  no  novice  in  these  matters  ; 
and  if,  when  doing  the  same  office  upon  himself,  he  should 
seem  little  inquisitive  and  little  observant,  and  very  merci- 
ful, we  will  ask  him  whither  his  discriminative  faculties  are 
flown,  and  where  he  hath  mislaid  his  moral  rule,  and  re- 
quire him  to  shew  cause  why  he  should  not  be  measured  by 
the  standard  of  his  own  choice  and  application,  brought  to 
his  own  bar,  held  over  to  his  own  judgment,  and  adjudged 
according  to  the  spirit  of  his  own  decisions.  Thus  we  lift 
up  the  veil  of  a  man's  self-esteem,  and  discover  to  him  a 
world  of  faults  and  failings  discernible  by  his  conscience  in 
another,  which  he  hath  bribed  his  conscience  from  discern- 
ing in  himself. 

But  some  one  may  plead  off  from  this  capacity  of  dis- 
cerning failings  in  his  neighbour,  and  deny  such  power  of 
conscience  to  perceive  his  own  offendings  as  we  have  assert- 
ed to  be  in  every  man.  Then  with  such  a  one  we  would 
make  a  tour  of  observation  upon  human  life,  and  in  our 
turns  we  would  remark  to  him  what  caution  and  address 
men  display  in  their  intercourse  among  themselves.  How 
slowly  they  unfold  their  mind,  how  they  choose  the  most 
indifferent  topics  of  discourse,  and  have  a  common-place 
phraseology  upon  those  which  lie  nearer  their  heart.  How, 
when  they  come  to  trade  and  barter,  they  approach,  and  re- 
cede, and  affect  indifference.  How  prudent  is  their  first 
acquaintance,  and  how  few  of  their  acquaintances  ripen  in- 
to confidence,  and  how  much  mutual  proof  before  that  confi- 
dence is  matured.  How  every  one  is  calculating  upon  much 
being  behind  the  stage-curtain  of  his  neighbour,  and  keep- 
ing much  behind  the  stage-curtain  of  himself;  and  how 
when  they  do  raise  the  curtain  and  take  their  parts,  these 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  109 

are  not  real  characters  which  they  personate ;  and,  you 
would  not  be  further  out  in  the  theatre  to  drop  the  knee  be- 
fore him  who  seems  a  king,  sit  at  the  feet  of  him  who  seems 
a  philosopher  or  band  with  him  who  seems  a  patriot,  than 
in  the  world  you  v/ould  be  out  in  clasping  to  your  bosom 
every  one  who  professes  friendship,  or  committing  your  all 
to  him  who  protests  honesty,  or  opening  your  heart  to  him 
who  is  all  faithfulness  and  truth.  Then  I  would  twitch  the 
sleeve  of  my  companion,  and  ask,  "  What  say  you  to  all 
this  ?"  He  would  answer,  *  That  is  all  as  it  should  be ; 
these  are  knowing  ones,  that  is  human  life,  and  the  invalua- 
ble knowledge  of  mankind.'  "  So,"  I  would  reply,  "  you 
are  acquainted  with  all  this."  '  Acquainted  with  it,'  he 
would  say ;  *  do  you  think  I  am  a  novice  or  a  fool,  or 
what  do  you  take  me  for  V  "  Then  you  have  played  your 
part  in  that  game  ?"  *  Sure  ;  what  else  have  I  been  doing 
since  I  began  life  for  myself.  If  I  had  not  been  as  dexter- 
ous as  the  rest,  they  would  soon  have  plucked  me.'  Now 
then  I  would  reply,  though  it  be  rather  unhandsome  to  con- 
demn ypu  out  of  your  own  mouth,  yet  as  it  is  for  your  own 
good,  you  will  excuse  my  saying  that  you  have  confessed 
that  your  conscience  perceives  a  deal  of  things  which  you 
not  only  hide  in  your  conduct,  but  make  a  merit  of  hiding. 
Your  deed,  your  word  belies  your  thought — you  make  be- 
lieve— you  save  appearances — you  seem  to  be  what  you^ 
are  not — you  would  not  be  that  which  you  seem. 

If  any  man  be  self-blinded,  we  would  by  such  means  disa- 
buse him,  and  if  he  be  obstinate,  overcome  him,  to  confess 
himself  an  enormous  transgressor  when  measured  by  the 
laws  of  Christ,  which  reach  to  every  secret  thought,  and 
will  have  nothing  but  the  purest  in  every  kind.  But  perhaps 
a  better  way  than  either  of  the  above,  for  operating  convic- 
tion, will  be  to  lift  up  the  veil  of  ignorance,  which  hangs  up- 
on our  minds,  as  to  what  God  really  requires  of  us  in  our 
several  places  and  relations :  which  being  rightly  perceived 
will  not  only  silence  farther  parley  upon  our  guilt,  but  also 
show  the  hopelessness  of  ever  working  out  acquittance,  and 
prepare  the  mind  to  look  for  and  receive  some  other  reve- 
lation, which  may  make  this  constitution  of  law,  so  excel- 
lent in  itself,  and  so  favourable  to  all  kind  of  moral  im- 
provement in  this  world,  likewise,  as  it  respects  future  judg- 
ment, tolerable  for  mankind  to  live  under,  hopeful  to  the 
mind  conscious  of  its  own  guiltiness,  and  practicable  for 
God  to  acquit  upon,  without  dishonouring  his  statutes  and 
dissolving  our  responsibility. 


110  ©F  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

In  the  analysis  of  the  divine  law  with  which  we  com- 
menced this  discourse,  we  have  lifted  up  this  veil  of  igno- 
rance in  so  far  as  it  hung  over  the  mind  and  will  of  God  ; 
and  in  now  removing  it  from  the  fields  of  active  duty  upon 
which  God  would  have  us  to  exhibit  our  obedience,  we  en- 
ter upon  a  sea  or  ocean  of  discourse  in  which  we  might  ex- 
patiate for  ever  without  finding  any  shore.  Therefore  it 
becomes  expedient  for  the  end  in  view  that  we  single  out 
some  specific  department  of  human  agency  within  which  to 
confine  ourselves.  Take  then  the  use  of  the  fortune  which 
God  hath  put  amongst  our  hands.  This  it  is  generally  un- 
derstood is  a  man's  own  to  do  his  pleasure,  without  inter- 
ference of  any  foreign  authority.  It  is  our  own,  hard-earned, 
and  surely  with  our  own  we  may  do  our  will.  No,  saith 
God,  it  is  a  gift  from  me,  which  I  could  have  sent  to  your 
serving-man,  or  to  the  beggar  at  your  gate.  You  hold  it  of 
me,  and  for  high  purposes  which  I  warn  you  of,  and  will 
look  into  when  I  call  from  every  man  an  account  of  his 
stewardship.  No  law  of  the  land  can  hinder  one  from 
hoarding  his  wealth  and  glutting  his  eyes  with  it  night  and 
morning,  meditating  of  it  by  day  and  dreaming  of  it  by 
night.  No  law  can  hinder  him  from  scattering  it  to  a 
scrambling  mob,  or  drowning  it  in  the  depths  of  the  sea, 
or  burying  it  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  He  might  bribe 
honest  men  with  it,  and  seduce  modest  women,  and  play 
the  rake  upon  the  largest,  broadest  scale.  Such  is  the 
limitation  of  human  law,  that  it  could  not  touch  him  with- 
in this  wide  sphere  of  wickedness.  Such  is  the  easiness 
of  public  opinion  and  fashionable  society,  that  he  could  bribe 
the  one  to  be  silent  with  a  few  acts  of  generosity,  the  other 
with  a  gay  equipage  and  a  courteous  address.  These  seve- 
ral courses,  and  many  more  into  which  men  direct  their  for- 
tune, all  unconscious  of  any  faults, — as  to  indulge  vanity,  or 
foster  pride,  or  pamper  appetite,  or  gratify  passion,  or  out- 
peer  a  rival,  or  humble  an  enemy,  or  nourish  self-sufficiency 
and  independence  upon  the  providence  of  God, — all  these, 
which  the  poor  timorous  eye  of  law  beholds,  but  dares  not 
challenge  however  it  disapproves,  the  law  of  God  takes  up 
as  with  a  touchstone,  tries  and  condemns,  and  commands  us 
to  use  our  fortune  for  the  sake  of  good,—  to  preserve  the 
health  of  our  body,  and  the  equanimity  of  our  mind,  to  pro- 
cure power  for  the  purpose  of  being  useful,  to  educate  our 
families  in  knowledge  and  wisdom,  and  to  establish  them  in 
the  most  influential  places,  that  they  also  may  be  serviceable 
in  the  highest  degree  to  that  which  is  good ; — therewith,  not 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  411 

thereafter,  to  supply  want  and  succour  misery,  to  patroni2i« 
merit  and  uphold  praise-worthy  people  all  over  the  sphere  of 
our  influence  ; — and,  while  remembering  in  our  charity  the 
worldly  state,  not  to  forget  the  religious  state,  but  to  bear  up 
the  pillars  thereof,  seeking  out  the  persecuted  members  of 
Christ  to  protect  and  establish  them,  spreading  the  gospel 
to  those  who  know  it  not,  and  turning  our  means  into  all  di- 
rections where  there  is  any  virtue,  and  where  there  is  any 
praise.  So  much  for  the  stewardship  of  fortune,  which  is 
but  one  talent,  and  perhaps  the  coarsest,  cheapest  talent  of 
the  whole.  There  is  the  stewardship  of  power  derived  from 
station  and  place,  and  the  stewardship  of  knowledge,  a  most 
divine  talent,  and  of  affection,  and  of  speech,  the  talent  most 
constantly  in  demand,  and  of  thought,  of  which  speech  is 
but  the  current  coinage,  and  of  time  so  uncertain,  and  of  a 
thousand  others,  of  all  which  time  would  fail  us  to  speak. 

Now,  if  we  engage  in  this  sea  of  divine  cares,  endeavour- 
ing to  do  our  utmost,  then  do  we  find  this  remarkable  result, 
that  our  mind  grows  nicer  and  nicer  in  its  discernment,  our 
perceptions  more  delicate,  and  our  views  of  duty  more  en- 
larged. We  are  like  travellers  in  a  mountainous  country  ; 
if  we  stand  in  the  valley,  mountains  surround  us;  if  we 
ascend  these  mountains,  it  is  but  a  wider  view  of  mountains 
to  be  surpassed. — But  the  traveller  at  length,  by  persever- 
ance, arrives  at  the  peaceful  valley,  where  he  may  rest  from 
his  labours  and  talk  over  the  hardships  which  he  hath  passed. 
Whereas  this  task  grows  incessantly  during  the  whole  of 
life ;  as  we  extinguish  it  at  one  end,  it  grows  more  perse- 
veringly  and  more  rapidly  as  the  other.  It  is,  in  no  figura- 
tive but  in  a  true  sense,  a  Herculean  labour  ;  for  while  you 
strike  off  one  head,  two  others  spring  up  in  its  stead.  Every 
one  will  discover  by  experience,  when  he  sets  his  shoulders 
to  the  mighty  work  of  keeping  the  law  of  God,  that  what  he 
succeeds  in  is  but  a  scantling  of  what  he  fails  in.  In  the 
obedience  of  every  other  law  we  may  be  guiltless.  We  may 
pass  the  bounds  of  duty  and  become  meritorious  and  hono- 
rary members  of  the  family  of  the  social  circle,  or  of  the 
state  ;  but  we  are  our  own  accusers  before  the  law  of  God, 
and  the  better  we  become,  the  more  violently  we  accuse  cur- 
selves  ;  which  is  a  phenomenon  the  inexperienced  can  by  no 
means  understand.  David  well  expressed  this  truth  when 
he  said  it  was  light  to  the  eyes  ; — for  as  light  openeth  to  the 
eye  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  which  without  it  seemed 
©ne  pall  of  darkness,  so  the  law  openeth  to  the  conscience 


ii2  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

the  multitude  of  duties,  of  which  formerly  it  discerned  nei- 
ther the  boundless  compass  nor  the  infinite  number  ;  so  that, 
in  the  language  of  St.  Paul,  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge  of 
sin.     Many  men  have  discoursed  eloquently  of  the  nice  tact 
which  conscience  arrives  at  by  reason  of  use  ;  but  beyond  all 
eloquent  attestations  is  the  fact,  that  the  men  most  faithfully  and 
diligently,  and,  to  all  appearance,  most  successfully  employed 
in  the  fulfilment  of  the  law,  are  the  men  who  most  distinctly 
perceive  and  most  loudly  lament  their  short-comings.  I  need 
not  quote  Paul's  heavy  accusation  of  himself,  in  the  7th  of  the 
Romans,  because  it  is  well  known  ;  but  I  cannot  forbear  a  quo* 
tation  from  the  writings  of  one  who  should  be  better  known — 
the  judicious  Hooker — who  thus  expresseth  himself  in  his  dis- 
course of  Justification  :  "  There  is  no  man's  case  so  danger- 
ous as  his  whom  Satan  hath  persuaded  that  his  own  right- 
eousness shall  present  him  pure  and  blameless  in  the  sight 
of  God.     If  we  could  say  we  were  not  guilty  of  any  thing 
at  all  in  our  consciences,  (we  know  ourselves  far  from  this 
innocency,  we  cannot  say  we  know  nothing  by  ourselves  ;  but 
if  we  could)  should  we  therefore  plead  not  guilty  before  the 
presence  of  our  Judge  that  sees  farther  into  our  hearts  than 
we  ourselves  can  do?  If  our  hands  did  never  offer  violence 
to  our  brother,  a  bloody  thought  doth  prove  us  murderers 
before  him.     If  we  had  never  offered  to  open  our  mouth  to 
utter  any  sdandalous,  offensive,  or  hurtful  word,  the  cry  of 
our  secret  cogitations  is  heard  in  the  ears  of  God.     If  we 
did  not  commit  the  sins  which  daily  and  hourly,  either  in 
deed,  word,  or  thought,  we  do  commit,  yet  in  the  good 
things  which  we  do,  how  many  defects  are  there  intermin- 
gled !  God,  in  that  which  is  done,  respecteth  the  mind  and 
the  intention  of  the  doer.     Cut  off,  then,  all  those  things 
wherein  we  have  regarded  our  own  glory,  those  things  which 
men  do  to  please  men,  and  satisfy  our  own  liking,  those  things 
which  we  do  for  any  by  respect,  not  sincerely  and  purely  for 
the  love  of  God,  and  a  small  score  will  serve  for  the  number  of 
our  righteous  deeds.     Let  the  holiest  and  best  things  which 
we  do  be  considered. — We  are  never  better  affected  unto 
God  than  when  we  pray ;  yet  when  we  pray  how  are  our 
affections  many  times  distracted  !  how  little  reverence  do  we 
shew  unto  the  grand  majesty  of  God,  unto  whom  we  speak ! 
how  little  remorse  of  our  own  miseries !   how  little  taste  of 
the  sweet  influence  of  his  tender  mercies  do  we  feel !  Are 
we  not  as  unwilling  many  times  to  begin  and  as  glad  to 
make  an  end,  as  if,  in  saying.  Call  upon  me,  he  had  set  us  a 
very  burdensome  task.     It  may  seem  somewhat  extreme 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  113 

which  I  will  speak,  therefore  let  every  one  judge  of  it,  even 
as  his  own  heart  shall  tell  him  and  no  otherwise. — I  will  but 
only  make  a  demand :  If  God  should  yield  unto  us,  not  as 
unto  Abraham,  if  fifty,  forty,  thirty,  twenty,  yea,  or  if  ten 
good  persons  could  be  found  in  a  city,  for  their  sakes  the 
city  should  not  be  destroyed — but  if  he  should  make  his 
offer  thus  large — search  all  the  generations  of  men  sithence 
the  fall  of  our  father  Adam,  find  one  man  that  hath  done 
one  action  which  hath  passed  from  him  pure,  without  any 
stain  or  blemish  at  all,  and  for  that  one  action  neither  man 
nor  angel  shall  feel  the  torments  which  were  prepared  for 
both.  Do  you  think  that  this  ransom  to  deliver  men  and 
angels  could  be  found  to  be  among  the  sons  of  men  ?" 

The  same  sense  of  utter  deficiency,  which  is  expressed  in 
the  above  passage  with  such  a  compass  of  thought  and  lan- 
guage, is  experienced  by  every  one  who  examines  his  life 
by  the  law  of  God.  Much  he  will  see  that  he  has  never  at- 
tempted, and  in  every  thing  that  he  has  attempted,  much 
that  he  has  never  performed,  and  in  what  he  has  performed, 
much  that  is  sinful  and  blame-worthy  ;  and  the  more  he  is 
at  pains  to  scan  the  mighty  labour,  the  more  will  the  mighty 
labour  swell  in  his  eye,  and  the  more  of  it  will  he  behold  un- 
performed. In  the  progress  even  of  his  improvement,  he 
rolls  along  with  him  an  accumulating  load  of  omissions  and 
transgressions,  which,  had  there  been  no  provision  made  for 
it,  would  have  overwhelmed  his  mind,  and  soon  brought  all 
obedience  to  a  stand. 

No  enthusiasm  could  have  borne  up  against  the  hopeless- 
ness and  terrors  of  such  a  law  ;  no  spirit  could  have  brooked 
to  be  ground  down  with  a  task,  which  by  its  very  nature  was 
interminable  and  thankless  in  every  stage  of  its  progress, — 
where  diligence  did  not  satisfy  our  task-master,  and  patient 
endurance  of  the  unmeasured  toil  did  but  find  for  us  threats 
in  this  life  and  scourgings  in  the  life  to  come.  And  if  we 
did  persevere,  it  would  have  been  to  decry  the  injustice  of 
proceeding  against  us.  For  our  advancement  in  what  was 
good  would  have  begotten  a  sense  of  worth,  a  pride  of  im- 
provement, and  a  satisfaction  with  ourselves,  which  would 
have  made  us  recede  from  the  indignity  of  being  threatened 
with  the  visitation  of  divine  wrath  for  that  which  neither  we 
nor  any  man,  by  any  means,  could  better  perform ;  which 
burst  of  feeling  would  avail  us  little — for,  alas  !  the  remem- 
brance lying  heavy  upon  our  conscience  of  having  often 
fallen  asleep  in  the  midst  of  duties,  and  allowed  ourselves, 
with  our  eyes  open,  to  give  way  before  the  dalliance  and 


It4  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COMB. 

enjoyment  and  vanities  of  the  world  ;  the  consciousness  of 
having  often  yielded  in  the  face  of  our  better  resolutions,  to 
the  insurrection  of  nature  within ;  the  long  period  of  youth, 
and  perhaps  prime  of  manhood,  spent  in  rushing  at  the  com- 
mand of  natural  instinct  into  forbidden  wickedness  ; — all 
these  evils,  past,  present,  and  to  come,  memory  loaded  with 
the  unprofitable  past,  hope  having  fearful  anticipation  of  the 
coming  future,  the  present  occupied  with  interminable  duty, 
would,  together,  have  combined  a  state  of  mind  the  most 
unfit  for  any  useful  employment  of  our  faculties.  Joy  and 
happiness,  which  form  the  atmosphere  of  alacrity  and  ac- 
tivity, would  have  been  sealed  up,  and  a  drooping,  speech- 
less drudgery,  driven  on  by  a  kind  of  fear  ;  the  desire  that 
things  might  not  grow  worse,  no  hope  of  ever  retrieving 
them,  would  have  been  the  only  motive  to  carry  us  forward. 
Between  attempting  and  failing,  between  reflections  upon 
ourselves  and  reflections  upon  God,  our  life  would  have 
passed  unprofitably,  if  this  law,  so  enlarged  and  pure,  was  to 
have  a  strict  inquisition  at  a  future  judgment. 

It  remains,  therefore,  that  we  complete  this  exposition  of 
the  constitution  under  which  God  hath  placed  us,  by  enter- 
ing into  an  explanation  of  the  various  provisions  which  are 
contained  in  it  for  meeting  this  dilemma,  into  which  every 
man  is  brought,  however  sincere  be  his  intention  and  how- 
ever great  his  endeavours  to  keep  the  perfect  law  of  God. 
But  this  is  of  so  much  importance,  and  so  distinct,  that  we 
separate  it  along  with  the  other  provisions  of  the  divine  con- 
stitution for  the  next  part  of  our  argument. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

PART  III. 

THE  SAME  SUBJECT  CONTINUED. 

In  order  to  meet  that  sense  of  delinquency  with  which 
every  reflective  mind  is  oppressed  when  it  betakes  itself  to 
stand  or  fall  by  the  law  of  God,  many  devices  are  imagined, 
whereof  we  shall  examine  the  stability  before  unfolding  that 
which  the  Lawgiver  hath  himself  discovered.  For  there  is 
a  strange  perverseness  in  mankind  to  do  without  this  other 
part  of  the  divine  constitution,  and  by  their  own  inventions 
to  help  themselves  out  of  the  dilemma  into  which  they  are 
brought  by  the  purity  of  the  law  j  on  which  account  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  pause,  and  consider  these  suggestions  of 
natural  reason,  before  proceeding  to  develop  what  God  him- 
self hath  revealed  upon  the  subject. 

The  most  common  refuge  of  the  mind  from  its  conscious- 
ness of  guilt  is  in  the  mercy  of  God.  His  toleration  of  sin 
here,  and  his  goodness  to  the  sinner,  insinuate  into  the  mind 
the  idea  that  he  may  be  as  forgiving  and  kind  in  the  world 
to  come.  This  hope,  or  rather  hallucination,  for  it  does  not 
reach  to  the  decision  of  a  hope,  serves  with  many  to  com- 
pose whatever  thought  or  anxiety  they  feel  upon  the  subject 
of  future  judgment.  It  is  a  notion  of  such  flimsy  texture  as 
hardly  to  bear  examination,  and  would  not  be  worthy  of  no- 
tice in  this  place,  were  it  not  for  the  numbers  who  are  con- 
tent to  be  deluded  by  it.  For  it  is  manifest,  that  if  God  is 
thus  to  pass  all  without  examination  upon  the  impulse  of  his 
mercy,  he  might  have  spared  himself  the  trouble  of  making 
a  law.  The  law  is  a  dead  letter  if  it  is  not  to  be  proceeded 
upon  ;  nay,  it  is  a  deception,  inasmuch  as  it  inflicts  many 
needless  fears,  and  requires  many  useless  sacrifices.  Not  that 
we  would  annihilate  his  power  of  remission,  which  we  shall 
see  is  very  great,  but  that  however  great,  it  cannot  extend 
over  every  form  of  delinquency  without  extinguishing  all 
difference  of  character,  and  making  the  divine  governmciit 


116  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

one  great  system  of  passing  and  patronizing  every  form  of 
crime.  His  mercy,  however  great,  must  proceed  by  rule, 
otherwise  it  will  destroy  responsibility,  annihilate  judgment, 
and  upset  righteousness,  and  bring  us  into  the  same  condition 
as  if  he  had  never  interfered  in  our  affairs.  Being  driven 
out  of  this  shift,  men  betake  themselves  to  make  a  rough  es- 
timation of  the  good  and  ill  of  their  character,  and  see  how 
they  stand  by  others,  taking  heart  if  they  are  above  par ; 
and,  if  below  it,  balancing  against  their  jfears  some  chari- 
ties or  religious  formalities,  or  better  intentions  for  the 
future.  Men  of  business  build  upon  their  honesty,  men 
of  rank  upon  their  honour,  simple  men  upon  their  good- 
nature, dissipated  men  upon  a  good  heart  at  bottom,  all 
upon  their  clearness  from  great  crime  and  excessive  wick- 
edness. Now  this  is  all  at  random  ;  it  is  to  conjecture,  not 
to  think  ;  to  fancy  a  god  and  invent  a  law,  and  to  abandon 
those  which  are  revealed.  For  honesty,  and  honour,  and 
good-nature,  and  a  good  heart,  (as  they  call  it,)  are  rules  by 
^vhich  men  regulated  themselves  before  God  took  the  reins, 
and  if  they  could  have  answered  the  end  in  view,  it  would 
have  been  idle  in  him  to  have  added  any  thing  beyond.  But 
now  that  he  has  taken  the  management,  and  issued  laws  by 
which  he  commandeth  us  to  abide,  he  will  surely  look  to 
their  obedience — or  what  was  the  use  of  uttering  them  ? 
And  any  claim  we  rest,  of  escaping,  must  derive  itself  in 
some  way  from  our  obedience  of  these  statutes,  otherwise 
the  statutes  go  for  nothing,  and  God  is  content  to  be  dis- 
honoured, and  to  leave  us  as  he  found  us,  having  totally  fail- 
ed in  his  undertaking  to  ameliorate  our  condition. 

The  next  suggestion  of  the  mind  is,  "  That  if  we  make 
a  sincere  endeavour  to  do  our  best  in  keeping  the  divine 
laws,  it  is  enough  ;  God  will,  in  his  mercv,  pardon  our  short- 
coming." This  is,  to  meet  the  difficulty  in  the  face,  and 
therefore  it  is  worthy  of  examination.  That  God  will  re- 
quire of  any  one  more  than  the  best,  or  that  he  will  ask 
something  beyond  what  it  is  possible  to  do,  is  unreasonable 
in  the  last  degree.  But  who  is  the  man  that  can  say  he  has 
done  his  best  I  or  that  he  has  endeavoured  to  do  his  best  ? 
Were  there  such  a  man,  he  would  have  no  self-accusations, 
no  upbraidings  of  conscience,  no  remembrance  of  iniquity 
past,  and  no  uneasiness  from  present  imperfection.  If  any 
one  be  so  opinioned,  to  be  undeceived  he  has  only  to  ask  his 
neighbour,  or  his  bosom  companion,  or  his  enemy,  or  any 
other  mortal  than  himself.  Ignorance  indeed  of  what  duty 
consists  in  may  work  this  delusion,  which  self-esteem  will 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME,  117 

hardly  work.  But  our  inquiry  doth  not  admit  the  apology 
of  ignorance,  being  not  what  an  ignorant  man  feels,  but  what 
a  man,  informed  by  the  divine  law,  and  bringing  to  the  bar 
of  that  law  his  thoughts  and  words  and  deeds — what  such  a 
one  feels.  And  surely,  as  hath  been  shown  above,  no  one 
will  allow  but  that  he  understands  more  of  that  law  than  he 
hath  performed,  and  that  there  is  much  of  it  which  he  hath 
not  taken  pains  to  understand.  That  hours  and  days  and 
weeks  and  months  and  years  have  passed  at  one  time  or 
other  of  his  life,  in  which  he  did  not  think  of  God's  law, 
much  less  endeavour  to  keep  it — much  less  endeavour  his 
best  to  keep  it.  Then  if  no  one  can  say  he  hath  done  his  best 
to  keep  it,  this  quietus  to  conscience  leaves  us  where  it  found 
us.     No  one  can  claim  upon  it  for  an  arrest  of  judgment. 

But  there  is  a  great  tendency  in  men  to  indulge  the  idea 
that  they  are  doing  the  best  under  all  the  circumstances  of 
their  case  ;  and  that  God  who  sends  them  their  severe  trials, 
their  strong  passions,  and  their  imperfect  nature,  will  surely 
take  all  these  things  into  account.  That  he  doth  take  them 
into  account  will  be  seen  hereafter  ;  but  he  doth  not  permit 
us  to  take  the  account  of  them.  There  is  the  greatest  dif- 
ference between  the  judge  deciding  upon  the  equity  of  the 
case,  and  the  party  deciding  for  himself.  I  suppose  you 
would  not  get  a  verdict  in  any  of  the  criminal  courts  if  you 
were  to  allow  the  prisoner  to  plead  upon  his  having  done  his 
best  to  avoid  the  crime.  Not  but  that  it  is  a  good  plea  if  it 
could  be  ascertained,  but  that  he  is  not  the  judge  of  the  plea. 
The  law  presumes  that  he  has  power  to  keep  its  require- 
ments, and  though  there  be  special  circumstances  of  hard- 
ship in  the  case,  still  the  law  is  relentless,  and  the  royal  pre- 
rogative of  mercy  is  the  only  refuge.  There  is  too  much 
tendency  in  nature  to  exculpate  herself,  that  she  should  need 
aiding  and  abetting  from  law,  of  which  the  very  office  is  to 
correct  this  her  weakness,  and  to  place  another's  interest  un- 
der protection  from  our  own.  But  it  were  at  once  to  lose 
every  restraint  of  law,  and  give  selfishness  and  prejudice 
and  power  their  fullest  swing,  were  men  to  be  indulged  with 
hope  of  acquittal  upon  their  declaring  that  they  had  done 
their  best.  Most  slily  would  nature  insinuate  her  weakness, 
most  powerfully  would  she  exaggerate  the  temptation,  most 
cunningly  shift  the  blame  from  herself,  and  most  boldly  in 
the  end  face  it  out,  by  saying,  It  could  not  be  helped,  I  did  my 
best.  The  thief  would  say,  '*  What  could  I  do  to  get  my 
bread  ?  I  was  honest  once,  but  the  world  set  against  me ;  long 
I  strove  with  misfortune,  but,  nature  being  weak  and  neces- 

16 


118  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COMB. 

sity  strong,  I  could  resist  no  longer.  All  that  could  be  done 
I  did  ;  it  was  the  last  resource,  therefore  I  am  clear,  having 
done  my  best."  The  idle  vagabond  would  say,  "  What  can 
I  do,  I  crave  to  know,  more  than  I  have  done  ?  My  parents 
have  cast  me  off,  my  master,  the  world  ;  I  am  despised  and 
rejected  of  men  ;  they  make  me  a  vagabond,  not  I  myself. 
Give  me  an  honest  profession  and  I  will  work  at  it ;  but  till 
then  what  can  I  do  but  seek  how  and  where  I  may  find  ?" 
Such  would  be  the  effect  of  acquitting  upon  the  plea,  hav- 
ing endeavoured  the  best ;  it  would  reach  far  and  wide  ;  the 
toleration  to  every  crime,  bring  down  the  unalterable  law  to 
every  man's  ideal,  ignorant,  prejudiced  standard,  and  leave 
to  his  own  decision  whether  he  hath  come  up  to  that  stan- 
dard or  no.  He  is  law,  he  is  judge,  he  is  every  thing.  All 
authority  over  him  is  at  an  end,  so  that  we  are  again  where 
we  were  without  any  use  or  advantage  from  God's  law,  if 
this  method  of  evading  it  is  to  be  sustained. 

All  these  subterfuges  (for  they  deserve  no  better  name)  are 
manifest  to  any  one  who  thinks  for  a  moment  of  the  nature  of 
law  ;  which  is  useful  only  as  it  is  stable,  and  which  is  perfect 
when  it  is  inflexible.  If  law  bends  to  one,  why  not  to  another  ? 
If  it  yields  to  one  specialty,  why  not  yield  to  another  ?  And 
so  it  would  grow  to  be  as  weak  as  human  nature,  whose 
weakness  it  is  designed  to  protect.  It  is  to  cheat  me  of  my 
liberty,  not  to  defend  me  in  my  rights,  to  promulgate  a 
schema  of  law,  and  allow  it  to  be  departed  from.  It  is  to 
cheat  the  good  for  the  sake  of  indulging  the  bad.  It  is  to 
relax  all  the  covenants  of  which  society  consists,  and  leave 
men  so  much  as  you  relax  to  their  native  liberty,  which  liber- 
ty law  may  go  too  far  in  restraining,  but  having  once  re- 
strained, ought  equally  to  restrain  in  all.  In  our  civil  insti- 
tutions this  is  so  well  understood,  that  rather  than  permit  the 
judge  of  law  to  relax  or  bend  it  to  any  unforeseen  case  of 
hardship  which  may  occur,  we  set  up  another  court  of  equity, 
before  which  such  cases  may  be  entered — but  if  once  they 
come  into  a  court  of  law,  the  issue  of  law  must  stand,  unless 
you  apply  to  the  royal  fountain  of  mercy. 

It  is  fortunate  that  we  can  appeal  to  a  historical  fact  which 
demonstrates  upon  the  large  scale  the  truth  of  all  the  above  rea- 
soning, and  shows  how  fatal  it  is  to  promulgate  one  rule  to 
the  people,  and  proceed  to  judgment  by  another.  Draco,  the 
legislator  of  Athens,  was  a  man  of  a  sense  of  equity  almost 
divine,  which  won  for  him  such  admiration  that  he  died  a 
martyr  to  its  excess.  This  man  was  pitched  upon  by  his  fel- 
low-citizens to  furnish  them  with  a  code  of  laws.  These  he 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  119 

constructed  rather  after  his  own  high  sentiments,  than  for 
their  imperfections  ;  making  almost  every  crime  punishable 
with  death — idleness  having  the  same  punishment  as  murder 
— which  caused  it  to  be  said,  that  Draco's  laws  were  written 
with  blood.  When  these  laws  came  to  be  executed,  the 
judge  found  that  it  was  not  in  the  heart  of  man  to  inflict 
punishment  by  the  letter ;  they  gradually  relaxed  them,  si- 
lently apportioning  the  punishment  to  the  measure  of  the  de- 
linquency. This  could  not  pass  unobserved  ;  the  people  be- 
gan to  calculate  on  it,  and  to  pass  beyond  it  in  their  calcula- 
tions. In  a  short  time,  the  laws  (though  from  any  account 
we  have  of  them,  and  from  the  hallowed  estimation  of  their 
author,  they  were  of  the  purest,  justest,  wisest  character) 
soon  fell  into  contempt,  and  were  trampled  under  foot,  mere- 
ly because  they  misgave  in  the  execution,  though  up  to  that 
point  they  were  blameless. 

That  the  same  effect  with  regard  to  the  laws  of  God  will 
follow  the  notion  that  they  are  to  be  reduced  in  the  judgment, 
and  that  none  of  their  excellent  qualities  set  forth  in  the 
former  discourse  will  bear  them  up  against  such  a  loss  of 
authority,  we  not  only  have  no  doubt,  but  we  have  the  clear- 
est manifestation  of  the  fact  to  offer.  Wherever  the  doc- 
trine is  taught  that  God  will  swerve  from  his  threatened 
punishment,  and  in  the  end  bring  all  men  out  of  thraldom — 
as  it  is  in  unitarian  pulpits  ;  wherever  the  doctrine  is  taught 
that  God  will  lower  his  demand  to  our  performance,  and  take 
what  we  have  to  give,  passing  by  the  rest — as  it  is  in  the 
pulpits  of  our  fashionable  and  accommodating  divines  ;  then 
mark  the  effect  upon  the  hearers.  They  fall  away  from  the 
constant  sense  of  God's  authority,  they  fall  away  from  the 
spiritual  interpretation  of  his  laws,  they  come  to  hold  reli- 
gion as  a  regular  formal  thing  done  at  stated  times,  and  to 
stand  by  their  honesty,  their  honour,  their  goodness  of  heart, 
their  charities,  or  some  other  criterion  which  exists  in  human 
nature  or  civilized  society  quite  independent  on  God's  right 
to  interfere,  or  his  actual  interference  in  our  affairs.  Such 
preachers  never  get  a  purchase  upon  their  people  to  lift  them 
out  of  the  resting-places  where  they  found  them.  They 
sweaf  by  their  honour  still,  they  build  upon  their  honesty, 
and  decency,  and  respectable  character,  as  they  were  wont  to 
do.  They  are  in  soul  the  same  as  before  they  heard  of  God's 
law,  with  this  difference,  that  they  follow  religious  customs 
instead  of  irreligious  customs  ,  and  so  in  France  they  would 
follow  French  customs  ;  in  the  city,  city  customs  j  and  in 
the  country,  country  customs. 


1^0  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

The  law,  therefore,  must  stand  wholly,  or  it  must  fall 
■wholly  ;  such  is  the  nature  of  all  legal  institutions.  Yet  man 
cannot  keep  it  wholly.  How,  then,  is  man  to  escape  ?  Here 
we  find  ourselves  again  at  a  stand,  from  which  I  challenge 
human  reason  to  deliver  us,  or  afford  us  the  shadow  of  a 
shelter.  If  God  had  not  written  out  a  law,  sustaining  our 
own  conscience  of  good  and  evil,  in  all  its  purest  judgments, 
and  passing  clean  beyond  into  a  region  of  superhuman,  un- 
clouded, celestial  purity,  there  would  have  been  a  way  of  es- 
cape. You  might  have  alleged  against  conscience  what  has 
been  alleged  by  the  jurisconsult,  (noticed  in  the  preceding  dis- 
course,) that  it  was  a  varying  faculty  in  various  minds,  and 
not  to  be  accounted  of  as  a  standard  of  the  right  and  wrong. 
And  there  I  think  that  jurisconsult  is  right,  as  he  is  also  in 
seeking  for  something  tangible  which  may  be  submitted  to 
calculation  by  the  lawgiver  and  expounded  in  the  shape  of 
statute,  not  left  in  the  fluctuating  uncertainty  of  private  feel- 
ing. Which  seeing  that  God  hath  done  giving  us  fixed  and 
formal  statutes  upon  (I  will  not  say^  calculations  of  utility, 
but  most  certainly  issuing  therein,  there  is  no  eluding  or 
shunning  of  them  ;  they  must  stand  altogether,  or  altogether 
fall — they  must  be  rejected  altogether,  or  altogether  be 
adopted. 

If  Christ  had  done  no  more  than  promulgate  the  code  de- 
tailed above,  then  at  this  point  I  should  have  shut  up  this  ar- 
gument of  judgment  to  come,  as  not  being  able  to  make  out 
of  it  any  thing  but  universal  condemnation  to  man,  even 
though  he  should  have  done  his  best.  I  should  have  advised 
to  preserve  it  for  its  good  qualities  in  sustaming  all  the  whole- 
some sentiments  of  the  heart,  and  all  the  advantageous  rela- 
tionships of  life — but  as  an  instrument  to  judge  upon  I  should 
have  been  altogether  dumb  in  its  defence.  But  to  his  immor- 
tal praise,  and  our  unspeakable  deliverance  from  threatening 
judgment,  he  added  to  this  constitution  a  second  part,  which 
removes  this  barrier  impassable  by  human  reason,  and  lifts 
us  into  new  capacities  of  obedience.  This  second  part  of  his 
constitution  we  are  now  to  unfold. 

Here  we  have  to  introduce  an  idea,  which  will  be  new, 
and  therefore  may  sound  strange  to  such  of  our  readers  as 
are  unacquainted  with  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  but  we  beg  of 
them  not  to  break  off,  but  to  hear  us  to  an  end  ;  for  we  must 
proceed  according  to  the  rule  which  we  laid  down  for  the 
conducting  of  our  argument,  gathering  the  matters  of  fact 
out  of  the  revelation,  and  showing  that  the  whole  is  condu- 
cive to  every  good  and  noble  and  gainful  end. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  ISl 

Next  to  the  existence  of  God,  the  truth  most  frequently 
revealed  in  Scripture,  is  that  Christ  is  a  Saviour  from  sins. 
Whether  you  take  the  prophets  who  spake  of  him  before,  or 
the  apostles  who  spake  of  him  after  his  coming,  or  his  own 
account  of  himself,  they  are  harmonious  upon  this  point, 
that  the  great  object  of  his  coming  was  to  save  men  from  the 
consequence  of  transgressions.  Isaiah  hath  it  so  written  in 
many  places,  "  All  we,  like  sheep,  have  gone  astray,  and 
the  Lord  hath  laid  upon  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  Jere- 
miah, describing  the  sera  of  his  coming,  or,  as  he  calls  it,  of 
the  New  Covenant,  puts  these  words  into  the  mouth  of 
God,  "  I  will  forgive  their  iniquity  and  remember  their  sin 
no  more."  So  also  Ezekiel,  when  speaking  of  the  same 
event.  Daniel  describes  Messiah  the  prince  as  coming  to 
"  finish  transgression,  and  to  make  an  end  of  sin,  and  to 
make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  to  bring  in  an  everlast- 
ing righteousness."  So  also  it  is  written  in  Micah,  Zecha- 
riah,  and  Malachi.  When  he  was  announced  by  the  angel 
to  Joseph,  it  was  in  these  words,  "  His  name  shall  be  called 
Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins."  At  his 
birth,  the  angels  rejoiced  over  him  as  a  Saviour.  Zacharias 
sung  of  him  as  a  Redeemer.  Simeon  hailed  him  as  "  Sal- 
vation arrived  to  all  people."  John  the  Baptist  announced 
him  as  "  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of 
the  world."  He  announced  himself  as  such  in  almost  every 
miracle,  saying,  "  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  He  put  his 
miracles  forth  as  evidence  of  the  same,  "  That  ye  may  know 
the  Son  of  man  hath  power  to  forgive  sins."  The  last  act 
of  his  life  was  "  the  forgiveness  of  sins."  Peter  first  preach- 
ed him  to  the  Jews  "  as  justifying  them  from  all  things  from 
■which  they  could  not  be  justified  by  the  law  of  Moses  ;"  to 
the  Gentiles  as  being  the  Son  of  God,  "  through  faith,  in 
whose  name  there  is  remission  of  sins."  Paul  gave  no 
other  name  to  the  jailor  of  Philippi  for  forgiveness  of  sins 
but  Christ's,  and  declares  there  is  no  other  given  under 
heaven.  In  short,  it  is  in  all  their  writings,  like  the  sun  in 
the  firmament  of  heaven,  and  how  men  can  miss  finding  it, 
or  not  rejoice  over  it  when  it  is  found,  is  a  miracle  of  blind- 
ness and  want  of  feeling,  to  be  accounted  for  only  by  their 
being  shut  up  in  some  of  those  mistakes  and  prejudices  about 
the  nature  of  law,  and  its  powers  of  yielding,  which  we  have 
exposed  above. 

It  doth  appear  therefore,  that  we  were  not  wrong  in  our 
iargumentation,  and  that  mankind  are  to  a  man  brought,  by 
the  nature  of  God's  government,  into  that  dilemma  of  sinful- 


122  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COMB. 

ness  and  wrath  to  come,  out  of  which  we  found  ourselves 
unable  to  discover  a  release  ;  that  Christ  hath  brought  the 
redemption  we  stood  in  need  of;  that  God  hath  set  him 
forth  to  be  a  propitiation  for  sins  that  are  past,  and  that  he 
can  now  be  just  and  the  justifier  of  him  that  believeth  in 
Jesus.  This  is  a  fact  of  revelation  not  less  certain  than  the 
fact  of  the  law  given  from  the  mount,  or  the  fact  of  judgment 
to  come,  concerning  which  we  argue. 

By  many,  and  indeed  by  the  greater  number,  this  liberty 
of  forgiveness  through  Christ  is  thought  to  strike  a  blow  at 
the  whole  system  of  law  delineated  above,  and  altogether  to 
evacuate  the  use  of  it ;  and  it  must  be  allowed  that  there  are 
passages  in  Paul's  writings,  which  being  taken  singly,  and 
apart  from  the  context,  might  be  forced  to  this  construction. 
But  when  he  expressly  argues  out  the  questions,  '  is  the  law 
against  the  promises  of  God  ?'  '  shall  we  sin  because  grace 
hath  abounded  ?'  without  having  any  thing  else  in  his  eye, 
he  comes  to  the  conclusion,  that  if  righteousness  could  have 
come  by  the  law,  Christ  would  not  have  died.  But  that 
-which  puts  the  question  to  rest  is,  that  Christ  declares  of 
himself  that  he  came  not  to  abrogate  the  law,  but  to  fulfil  it 
and  make  it  honourable,  and  above  all,  that  the  Christian 
books  wherein  the  dogtrine  of  forgiveness  through  Christ  is 
taught,  contain  throughout  in  every  page  a  moral  law,  the 
same  in  substance  with  that  delivered  from  the  mount,  but 
ramified  and  applied  to  every  individual  feeling  and  action 
which  can  occur.  There  is  no  intention,  therefore,  that  the 
one  should  undermine  or  annihilate  the  other,  but  that  both 
go  to  compose  the  constitution  under  which  we  live.  What 
remains,  therefore,  is,  that  we  engross  this  new  idea  of  for- 
giveness through  Christ  into  our  argument,  and  see  how  it 
affects  the  result. 

If  there  had  been  any  condition  attached  to  this  boon  of 
forgiveness,  we  should  have  been  in  no  better  case  than  be- 
fore. If  it  had  been  required  that,  anterior  to  any  hope  of 
pardon  for  past  offences,  we  should  be  so  far  advanced  in 
obedience  as  to  be  of  a  reputable  character  for  honesty  or 
charity,  or  truth,  or  to  be  doing  our  best  to  attain  it :  then, 
verily,  things  would  have  been  marred  at  the  very  commence- 
ment. For  it  would  have  been  left  to  self  to  determine  the 
measure  of  attainment  upon  which  we  could  found  a  claim 
to  the  benefit,  and  the  question  would  have  been  perplexed 
anew  with  that  uncertain  element  of  self-adjudication  which 
we  have  already  shown  is  enough  to  shake  the  stability  of 
any  system.    Besides,  from  the  nature  of  man,  which  always 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  123 

founds  a  claim  of  right  when  a  condition  is  present,  it  would  , 
have  soon  lost  the  character  of  a  boon,  and  failed  to  make 
the  impression  of  a  free  unmerited  gift.  But  above  all,  it 
would  have  opened  the  door  to  self-esteem  and  partiality, 
and  every  kind  of  palliation,  to  juggle  us  into  the  conceit  of 
having  reached  the  mark  at  which  all  was  safe.  And  being 
persuaded  that  we  were  there  arrived,  all  inducement  to  fur- 
ther efforts  would  have  been  taken  away  when  there  was  no 
further  advantage  to  be  gained. 

Fortunately,  however,  there  is  no  such  condition  attached. 
Every  one,  however   enormous  his  sins,   is  invited  without 
money  and  without  price,  to  enter  under  this  constitution  of 
which  the  very  title  is  redemption  or  salvation.     Any  man 
who  has  come  to  think  upon  his  transgressions,  and  found 
no  method  of  escaping  from  the  threatenings  of  the  divine 
law,  hath  here  a  city  of  refuge  to  flee  to.     Memory  is  not 
hindered  from  mourning  over  the  past,  but  hope  is  hindered 
from  ever  desj^airing  of  the  future.     The  time  which  might 
have  been  consumed  in  repining  over  the  past  not  to  be  re- 
claimed, the  load  of  unatoned  guilt,  the  fearful  looking  for  of 
judgment  and  fiery  indignation,  the  strength  of  body  and  of 
mind  which  might  have  been  exhausted  in  useless  penance, 
are  all  annihilated  at  once  by  the  revelation  of  forgiveness 
through  Jesus  Christ :  and  we  are  left  free  to  follow  the  new 
course  under  the  full  force  of  the  new  motives  which  may 
be  impressed  on  us,  being  delivered  not  only  from  the  im- 
pediments arising  out  of  our  own  heavy  conscience,  but  also 
from  the  discouragements  which  that  timorous  conscience 
conjures  up  in  the  nature  of  God.     While  yet  we  fear  him, 
and  see  no  common  ground  on  which  our  sinfulness  may 
meet  with  his  purity  and  be  at  peace,  there  can  be  no  heart 
in  us  to  draw  near.     Nature  shrinks  and  shudders  at  his  in- 
spection, while  she  sees  no  fair  way  to  his  favour.     Even 
before  a  fellow-mortal  of  great  attainments,  of  severe  justice, 
and  of  nice  power  to  sift  and  scrutinize  the  heart,  we  shrink 
back  abashed  if  we  are  conscious  of  crime,  and  fear  to  stand 
the  penetration  of  his  eye.     What  conscious  criminal  ever 
sought  the  judgment  seat,  or  thought  of  the  inflexible  judge 
but  with  a  shudder  that  they  were  to  meet  so  soon  ?  Did  it 
ever  happen  that  a  man  drowned  in  debt,  could  be  but  bowed 
down  before  the  creditor  to  whom  he  owed  it  all  ?  Nay, 
truly,  the  consciousness  of  obligation  undischarged,  of  duty 
unperformed,  of  offences  done  against  any  one,  is  like  a  case 
of  cold  steel  around  the  heart,  which  will  neither  allow  it  to 
glow  nor  to  expand.     But  if  the  unsatisfied,  injured  party 


IM  OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

should  in  mercy  and  pity  discharge  the  debt  at  once,  then 
gratitude,  admiration,  and  devotion  come  to  take  the  place 
of  overwhelming  anxiety  and  fear.  The  heart  is  free  again, 
and  overcharged  with  the  materials  of  love  and  lasting  at- 
tachment— conscience  is  delivered  of  all  but  a  debt  of  love — 
the  breast  is  clear  except  of  affection,  and  a  dedication  of  a 
noble  kind  takes  place  of  the  slavery  in  which  we  were  for- 
merly bound.  There  ensues  all  the  difference  between  a 
slave  and  a  free-  man,  added  to  all  the  difference  between  a 
freeman  and  a  devoted  friend.  Even  such  a  change,  no  less 
but  greater  far,  takes  place  upon  the  mind  which  hath  not 
feigned  a  God  from  its  own  imagination,  but  taken  him  as 
revealed  in  his  law,  when  it  comes  to  understand  that  through 
Jesus  Christ  all  is  wiped  into  oblivion,  that  it  is  free  to  feel, 
free  to  love  its  Maker,  the  same  as  if  it  had  grown  up  in  filial 
affection,  without  once  having  done  any  offence. 

No  sooner  is  the  mind  conscious  of  a  deliverance,  than  it 
seeks  to  know  through  whom  and  by  what  means  that  de- 
liverance hath  been  brought  about.     This  leads  at  once  to 
the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Redeemer,  and  of  the 
price  which  he  paid  for  our  redemption. .   This  is  a  new 
stage  in  the  progress  at  which  there  commences  a  series  of 
thoughts  whose  magnitude  and  mercy  sweep  the  mind  al- 
ternately with  wonder  and  affection  and  joy.     The  fact  of 
being  reduced  into  open,  free  favour  with  God,  is  of  itself  a 
good  beginning  to  any  intercourse  of  love  and  confidence 
that  is  to  be  joined  between  us.     It  clears  all  the  barriers 
away,  and  makes  us  free  to  commence  the  course.     But  the 
absence  of  impediment  is  one  thing,  the  inspiration  of  heart 
and  strength,  and  soul  and  might  is  another  thing.     That  re- 
moval of  despair  brought  the  soul  as  it  were  to  the  break  of 
day,  which  is  sweet  after  darkest  night,  but  much  light  of 
day  is  needed,  and  much  guardianship,  and   much  security 
and  steadfastness,  that  we  may  keep  in  the  narrow  way  which 
leadeth  unto  life.     An  outfit  of  new  thoughts   and  feelings 
is  necessary  to  that  new  race  of  obedience  which  commences 
the  moment  we  perceive  a  way  opened  up  from  death  unto 
life.     Of  this  outfit  of  the  Spirit,  a  great  portion  is  derived 
from  the  knowledge  of  what  was  done  to  purchase  the  liberty 
in  which  we   stand.     The  fact  of  our  being  admissible  to 
God's  favour  at  any  season,  if  barely  told  as  a  naked  fact,  or 
contemplated  as   a  single  truth,  hath  little  effect  over  the 
heart,  compared  to  what  it  has   when   contemplate^   in  the 
expansion  which  it  hath  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.     Now  as  it 
is  the  purport  of  this  discourse  to  lay  down  the  spiritual 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  1S5 

forces  under  which  the  Gospel  brings  the  Christian,  that  it 
may  be  seen  how  he  is  moved,  it  behoves  us  to  place  this 
doctrine  of  our  forgivepess,  not  only  in  the  light  of  a  bare 
fact,  as  we  have  done  above,  but  in  that  form  which  it  occu- 
pies in  the  revelation,  and  in  which  it  is  generally  found  to 
operate  upon  the  mind. 

When  we  turn  from  the  knowledge  of  our  deliverance  to 
know  the  being  by  whom  and  the  way  by  which  we  were 
delivered,  we  learn  from  the  word  of  God  this  stupendous 
and  overawing  history  of  our  Saviour  and  our  redemption. 
•In  one  place  it  is  written,  that  he  was  in  the  form  of  God, 
and  thought  it  not  robbery  '  to  be  equal  with  God  ;^  and,  in 
another  place,  '  that  he  was  the  brightness  of  the  Father's 
glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his  person,  and  by  the  word 
of  his  power  that  all  things  are  upholden  ;'  and,  in  another 
place, '  He  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first-born 
of  every  creature,  for  by  him  were  all  things  created  that 
are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in  earth,  whether  they  be  thrones 
or  dominions  or  principalities  or  powers  ;  all  things  were 
created  by  him  and  for  him,  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and 
by  him  all  things  consist.'  Unto  this  same  great  and  glori- 
ous being  God  speaketh  in  this  wise,  '  Thy  throne,  O  God, 
is  for  ever  and  ever,  a  sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the  scep- 
tre of  thy  kingdom.  Thou  hast  loved  righteousness  and 
hated  iniquity,  therefore  God,  even  thy  God,  hath  anointed 
thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows.'  And  in 
another  place,  God  saith  unto  his  Son,  *  Thou,  Lord,  in  the 
beginning  hast  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and  the 
heavens  are  the  work  of  thine  hands ;  they  shall  perish,  but 
thou  remainest ;  they  shall  all  wax  old,  as  doth  a  garment, 
but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail.' 

Such  was  he  who  descended  into  this  sphere,  and  engaged 
with  all  its  troubles,  that  he  might  purchase  our  redemption 
from  the  curse  of  the  broken  law.  From  everlasting  he  sat 
upon  the  throne  of  Heaven,  and  with  a  sceptre  of  righte- 
ousness he  ruled  the  thrones  and  powers  and  dominions 
which  his  hand  had  formed,  and  which  the  Word  of  his 
power  upheld — deserving  and  receiving  in  every  act  of  his 
government  the  approbation  and  seal  of  his  everlasting 
Father.  There  he  sat,  rejoicing  in  the  midst  of  the  harmony 
which  he  educed,  and  receiving  the  adorations  of  those  hosts 
whose  hearts  he  filled  with  gladness,  and  whose  tongues  he 
touched  with  praise  ; — benignity,  beneficence,  and  radiant 
glory  flowing  ever  from  his  countenance,  inspiring  the  ardour 
of  love  and  begetting  the  fruits  of  righteousness  in  the  boson>s 

17 


126  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

of  the  creatures  which  peopled  his  happy  universe. — Behold- 
ing them  all  and  blessing  them  all,  even  as  the  natural  sun 
beholdeth  and  blesseth  the  fruits  of  tlje  teeming  earth. 

Oh,  how  shall  I  speak  of  this  unutterable  glory,  who  am 
a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  of  a  deceitful  and  defiled  heart, 
and  have  nowhere  to  gather  illustration  save  this  unhappy 
and  unrighteous  world.  You  have  felt,  or  you  have  seen, 
the  wrapt  enjoyment  of  an  aged  sire,  making  a  round  of  his 
children  in  their  several  homes,  beholding  them  blooming 
and  rejoicing  in  the  favour  of  the  Lord,  with  their  little  ones 
encircling  them  like  the  shoots  of  the  tender  vine.  No  dis- 
cords to  heal,  no  sorrows  to  assuage,  no  misfortunes  to  la- 
ment in  all  that  have  sprung  of  his  loins.  What  an  emotion 
of  paternal  glory  and  pious  thankfulness  fills  his  breast !  He 
looks  round  upon  the  numerous  and  happy  flock,  bone  of  his 
bone,  and  flesh  of  his  flesh,  and  the  tear  silently  fills  his  eye, 
which  he  lifts  to  heaven,  the  seat  of  God,  with  a  look  that 
would  say.  Thou  hast  dealt  bountifully  with  thy  servant, 
now  let  him  depart  in  peace.  One  such  sight  makes  a  parent 
forget  the  cares  and  labour  of  a  long  life,  one  such  emotion 
puts  to  flight  all  the  fears  and  forebodings  of  a  parent's  heart, 
his  soul  is  satisfied,  the  measure  of  his  joy  is  full. — This 
emotion  is  the  nearest  in  kind  that  we  can  think  of  to  that 
which  Christ  enjoyed  through  all  eternity,  in  beholding  and 
ministering  to  the  happiness  of  all  created  things.  His  fami- 
ly, his  innumerable  family,  were  full  of  satisfaction,  and  full 
of  thanksgiving;' they  dwelt  in  unity,  and  the  pleasure  of 
the  Lord  prospered  in  their  hand  ;  and  he  sat  upon  his 
throne,  the  centre  from  which  these  pulsations  of  bliss  circu- 
lated to  the  end  and  limit  of  creation.  Such  royal  beatitude, 
such  infinite  solacement  of  nature,  who  shall  express  !  Not 
man,  surely,  whose  mind  is  acquaint  with  sorrow  like  a  sis- 
ter, whose  nature  is  wrapt  around  the  place  of  suffering,  and 
whose  enjoyments  pass  like  the  early  cloud  and  the  moniing 
dew. 

Then  who  shall  speak  of  the  internal  movements  of  a  di- 
vine mind,  which  were  enough  for  its  complete  beatitude, 
through  those  mysterious  and  solitary  ages  before  creation 
had  a  birth.  And  who  shall  speak  of  those  communions  of 
love  between  Father  and  Son,  which  of  all  that  he  had  fore- 
gone, was  the  only  thing  Christ  longed  for  when  on  earth, 
and  which  it  was  his  strong  prayer,  his  supreme  felicity  to 
have  again  rejoined.  And  who  shall  speak  of  the  delecta- 
tion which  he  took  with  his  several  attributes,  whereof  wis- 
dom declarcth  for  herself,  '  I  was  by  him  as  one  brought  up 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  1^7 

with  him,  and  I  was  daily  his  delight,  rejoicing  always  be- 
fore him.'  And  who  shall  speak  of  the  Son  going  forth 
clothed  with  the  plenitude  of  his  Father's  power  to  create 
new  worlds  in  the  depth  of  space,  out  of  nothing  to  bring 
the  waste  and  chaotic  deep,  and  out  of  wildest  chaos  to  order 
the  teeming  womb  of  nature  ;  to  diffuse  his  spirit  over  things 
that  lately  were  not,  and  create  millions  of  happy  beings, 
brightening  with  his  image,  and  strong  to  perform  the  good 
pleasure  of  his  will. 

If  there  was  such  a  joyful  occasion  when  this  earth  was 
made,  such  a  series  of  divine  operations,  such  appointments 
to  each  creature  of  his  element  and  his  end,  and  the  bounda- 
ry of  his  habitation,  such  a  glad  survey  of  the  finished  whole, 
and  such  a  holy  rest  ;  as  if  the  Creator  had  a  new  delight  and 
a  perceptible  increase  of  joy  from  silently  surveying  his 
handy-work  ;  and  if  there  was  such  a  merry-making  over  its 
completion,  that  to  welcome  their  youngest  sister  into  being 
the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy.  Who  then  shall  tell  of  the  successive  expeditions  of 
the  Son  of  God,  to  create  these  resplendent  worlds  which 
occupy  the  spacious  universe  ?  Who  shall  unfold  the  annals 
of  creation,  and  narrate  the  generations  of  the  heavens,  and 
tell  how  oft  in  the  lapse  of  eternity,  he  took  this  divine  re- 
creation of  bringing  worlds  into  being,  and  this  divine  ecsta- 
sy of  surveying  them  when  complete;  and  this  divine  re- 
ward of  hearing  all  the  elder  children  of  his  power,  pouring 
forth  hallelujahs  of  praise  and  admiration  over  the  work 
which  his  hand  had  made. 

Yet  such  supreme  honours  did  he  forego,  and  such  divine 
occupations  did  he  suspend  out  of  a  tender  interest  in  the 
fallen  children  of  men — wherefore  he  took  for  us  such  a  last- 
ing love,  passeth  our  knowledge  j  but  certain  it  is  he  count- 
ed it  more  noble  to  save  the  souls  of  perishing  sinners,  than 
to  govern  the  infinite  myriads  of  the  unfallen.  There  was 
something  in' mercy  which  tasted  sweeter  to  his  mind  than 
the  adoration  of  heaven,  or  the  perfection  of  bliss — there  was 
something  in  recovering  one  lost,  and  rejoicing  over  it  when 
found,  more  in  unison  with  his  nature,  than  in  ninety  and 
nine  who  had  never  strayed.  It  cost  him  more  thought  to 
see  one  corner  of  his  creation,  vexed  with  sin  and  suffering, 
than  to  cast  his  eye  complaisantly  over  the  spaces  which  were 
abiding  spotless  and  blessed.  While  there  was  a  resource 
left,  a  plan  possible,  cost  what  it  would,  he  felt  within  his  pa- 
ternal soul  that  it  must  be  adventured  for  these  poor  cast- 
away enslaved  creatures.     Low  as  they  were  sunk — Satan's 


128  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

willing  thralls — the  pariars  of  creation,  there  still  lay  within 
their  bosom,  a  spark  which  might  be  rekindled  and  set  on 
flame,  by  divine  operation  and  care.  This  was  enough — 
that  it  was  practicable  to  redeem  and  save — that  they  could 
be  delivered  out  of  the  hands  of  the  avenger,  and  brought 
home  to  the  paradise  of  God. 

He  cared  not  that  he  must  for  a  season  abdicate  the  throne, 
and  resign  the  government  of  the  universe — he  cared  not  that 
he  must  wrap  up  his  conditions  within  the  bounded  sphere  of 
a  creature — he  cared  not  that  man's  puny  strength  must  be 
his  measure,  and  man's  penetrable  and  suffering  frame,  the 
continent  of  his  being — that  his  spirit,  too,  must  take  on  hu- 
man affections,  and  his  body  be  afflicted  with  human  wants 
— and  he  cared  not  that  hell  and  hell's  sovereign  should  be 
loosed  against  him,  and  those  of  his  own  household  become 
traitors — those  he  died  for  his  executioners — death  his  por- 
tion, and  the  grave  his  abode.  Nor  did  he  care  that  during 
the  hottest  of  this  fiery  trial,  his  Father  should  cloud  his  face 
and  withdraw  his  countenance  and  leave  him  to  tread  the 
winepress  of  sorrow  alone,  and  roll  his  garment  in  his  blood 
— Oh  !  what  is  this  we  speak  of,  can  it  be  that  the  Creator 
should  become  a  creature,  dwelling  upon  the  ungrateful  earth 
he  made,  in  want  of  a  morsel  of  its  bread  and  a  cup  of  its 
water  to  satisfy  his  hunger  and  his  thirst,  calling  upon  the 
creatures  he  formed  and  fed  for  their  charity,  for  their  pity, 
for  their  justice,  and  denied  by  the  unnatural  children  whom 
he  formed. 

There  was  one  attribute  of  the  divinity  which  he  would 
not  lay  aside,  when  he  laid  aside  the  rest — he  would  not  part 
with  his  mercy,  and  with  so  much  of  his  power  as  was  need- 
ed to  satisfy  his  mercy.  The  power  that  could  have  humbled 
his  foes  he  forewent,  the  power  that  could  have  revenged  his 
wrongs,  that  could  have  nourished  his  famished  body,  and 
canopied  his  naked  head,  and  shielded  his  unhoused  person  ; 
all  that  could  have  ministered  triumph  or  solacement  to  his 
sufferings  he  forewent  ;  but  that  Almighty  power  which 
might  heal  sickness  and  chase  sorrow,  and  put  to  right  dis- 
abled frames,  and  draw  back  blooming  health  and  warm  gush- 
ing life  to  their  withered  abode,  and  cheat  the  grave  and  the 
wrathful  elements  of  their  prey.  All  this  power  he  gave  not 
up,  but  brought  it  with  him  to  the  earth  which  called  upon  it 
so  largely,  and  requited  it  so  ill.  But  saving  so  much  power 
as  might  be  of  comfort  to  the  poor  creatures  he  went  out  to 
redeem,  he  stripped  himself  of  all  besides,  and  did  come  not 
only  within  the  narrow  conditions    of   manhood,  passing 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  129 

through  the  nobler  nature  of  angels,  but  into  manhood's  niost 
mean  and  melancholy  conditions  ;  not  suffered  to  see  the 
light  in  a  human  habitation  ;  no  sooner  born  than  sought  af- 
ter by  the  hunters  of  blood  ;  borne  over  sandy  deserts  into  a 
foreign  land  ;  bred  at  an  obscure  laborious  calling,  in  a  town 
proverbial  for  wickedness,  in  a  region  despised  as  outlandish. 
When  entered  on  his  office  of  salvation,  a  waylaid  wanderer, 
a  houseless,  homeless  man,  watched  evermore  by  a  host  of 
spies  and  informers,  and  carrying  in  the  bosom  of  his  confi- 
dence a  venal  traitor.  Buffeted,  spit  on,  crowned  with 
.thorns,  basely  betrayed,  his  blood  sold  for  money,  justice,  the 
common  right  of  man,  refused  bim  ;  nay,  against  the  voice 
and  in  the  sacred  face  of  justice,  sacrificed  and  crucified  on 
that  tree  where  a  murderer  should  have  hung,  from  which 
a' seditious  murderer  was  released,  to  make  room  for  the  Son 
of  God.  Oh  heavens  !  oh  earth  !  oh  sacred  justice  !  oh  pow- 
er supreme  !  where  slept  ye  when  such  indignity  was  offer- 
ed to  your  Prince  ;  ye  slept  not,  but  ye  murmured  forth 
your  indignation  in  thunder,  and  ye  frowned  darkness  upon 
the  face  of  day,  and  ye  heaved  forth  from  the  secret  place 
the  ghastly  bodies  of  the  dead  to  aflVight  the  living  ;  ye  slept 
not,  and  would  have  arisen  in  your  sovereign  might  to  defend 
your  Prince  from  murderous  hands  ;  but  the  voice  of  your 
Prince  had  bound  you,  bound  you  to  look  on  and  intermeddle 
not — to  look  upon  the  darkest  foulest  scene,  wherewith  the 
annals  of  time  are  defaced  and  the  reputation  of  the  earth  de- 
famed. 

Such  is  the  brief  history  of  that  greatest  act  of  love  where-, 
with  the  world  of  men  or  angels  is  acquainted.  This  is  the 
burden  of  prophets,  and  evangelists,  and  apostles — the  end 
and  meaning  of  types  and  ceremonies  and  sacrifices — the 
foundation  of  a  thousand  arguments,  and  the  subject  of  a 
thousand  warm  emotions  throughout  the  scriptures,  every 
one  of  which,  as  they  occur,  elevates  the  mind  to  the  divine 
contemplation,  and  brings  with  it  admiration,  affection,  and 
joy.  We  cannot  afford  in  this  argument  to  be  discursive, 
otherwise  we  should  show  in  what  ra  variety  of  ways  the 
above  most  wonderful  dispensation  of  grace  is  fitted  to  affect 
the  mind  into  which  it  is  received  as  the  great  end  of  all  God's 
revelations.  It  can  no  longer  have  any  doubt  upon  the  ten- 
der affections  of  God  towards  the  sons  of  men,  for  whose 
sake  he  hath  given  up  his  only  begotten  and  well-beloved  son. 
But  besides  drawing  out  our  aflection  to  God,  it  rivets  them 
upon  one  hitherto  unknown,  Jesus  Christ  the  son  of  God, 
who  underwent  such  humiliation  and  poverty  and  affliction 


130  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

on  our  account,  and  healed  the  division  there  was  between  us 
and  God»  Whether  that  division  arose  from  positive  wrath 
on  the  side  of  God,  it  boots  not  to  inquire,  seeing  that  it  did 
exist  and  doth  exist — there  being  to  this  day  no  aft'ection  of 
heart,  nor  intercourse  of  thought,  nor  affinity  of  happy  nature, 
between  a  human  soul  and  its  Maker,  until  joined  through 
this  intermedium  of  Christ  crucified.  Our  attention  being 
once  fairly  turned  upon  Christ  by  the  interest  he  hath  taken 
in  our  recovery,  a  number  of  effects  are  produced  which  go  to 
influence  the  future  conduct  of  every  one  who  believeth  the 
above,  which  we  are  sure  is  the  unvarnished  account  of  Scrips 
ture.  Not  to  repeat  the  effect  produced  by  the  cancelling  of 
the  guilt  already  contracted,  and  the  revival  of  hope  from  its 
abject  condition  of  despair,  which  doth  as  it  were  clear  the 
road  and  cheer  the  spirit  for  the  future  action,  but  doth  not 
furnish  the  instrument  and  strength  for  the  action,  we  remark. 
First,  That  Christ  having  kept  the  law  of  God  without 
spot  or  blemish,  his  life  stands  instead  of  the  law.  He  is  the 
personification  of  the  law,  which  we  can  now  peruse  not  in 
words,  but  in  a  living  example.  This  is  a  mighty  advantage 
to  the  successful  keeping  of  it,  and  were  there  nothing  else, 
would  secure  a  much  more  perfect  performance  than  when  it 
had  its  exposition  in  bare  language  alone.  For  looking  upon 
the  law  itself,  our  eye  is  set  upon  an  object  which,  though 
holy  and  pure,  is  cold,  hopeless,  and  cheerless  ;  but  looking 
upon  Christ's  exemplification  of  the  law,  our  eye  is  set  upon 
an  object  warm  with  life,  friendly,  affectionate,  and  dear  to 
every  feeling  of  the  heart.  We  have  to  deal  no  longer  with 
written  letters,  construed  into  mental  conceptions,  abstract 
and  formless,  but  with  a  fellow -mortal,  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities,  and  smarting  at  every  pore  for  his 
love  of  us,  yet  holding  his  obedience  stedfast  unto  the  end. 
Not  that  the  Gospel,  of  which  Christ  is  the  model,  drops  one 
tittle  of  the  law,  but  embosoms  it  in  graceful  and  gainly  at- 
tractions, and  induces  upon  it  all  that  persuades  and  wins 
and  keeps  stedfast,  and  translates  it  out  of  language  intelli- 
gible to  the  heart  of  an  unfallen  creature,  into  language  intel- 
ligible to  the  heart  of  a  creature  fallen.  For  I  believe  that 
if  man  had  stood  fast  in  his  integrity,  this  law  which  now 
seems  so  stern,  would  have  felt  merciful  and  kind  and 
good,  as  well  as  just.  For  peace  is  sweet,  and  chastity  is 
good,  and  forgiveness  is  kind,  and  truthfulness  is  the  very 
bond  of  confidence  and  love.  These  requirements  are  in  them- 
selves as  much  of  the  essence  of  mercy  as  is  the  Gospel  j  and 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  131 

it  is  only  our  imperfection  which  makes  them  seem  other- 
wise— they  go  not  with  the  grain,  and  therefore  we  wince. 
The  law  is  a  gracious  object  to  an  unfallen  creature,  for  ab- 
stract unprejudiced  reason  to  love  and  admire,  but  the  mo- 
ment that  reason  mingles  with  flesh  and  blood,  it  is  invaded 
and  overcome  by  a  thousand  sympathies  and  antipathies, 
over  which  reason  hath  but  a  slender  control.  Now  the  Gos- 
pel catches  at  these  very  sympathies  and  antipathies  of  flesh 
and  blood,  by  investing  the  law  in  Christ's  person  with  life, 
colour,  beauty,  and  every  attraction  ;  from  an  idea  making  it 
a  living,  loving  thing,  taking  it  and  dressing  it  so  as  to  be 
gainly  and  winning  to  the  heart.  The  law  is  the  Gospel  to 
the  unfallen,  the  Gospel  is  the  law  to  the  fallen.  The  law 
is  God  manifest  in  words,  the  Gospel  is  God  manifest  in 
flesh.  Around  the  purity  of  the  law,  Christ  has  arrayed 
every  thing  which,  not  being  vicious,  is  pleasant  to  the  heart 
of  man,  bearing  in  his  hand  every  prize  which,  not  being  vain, 
can  inflame  the  ambition  of  man,  speaking  from  his  mouth 
every  word  which,  not  being  flattery,  can  soothe  and  exhilarate 
and  ennoble  the  breast  of  man,  enduring  for  our  sake  every  suf- 
fering which  can  make  the  suff^erer  great.  In  the  genius  of  the 
(iospel  come  purity  and  loyeliness  and  benevolence  and  hope 
and  prosperity,  with  the  whole  constellation  of  advantageous 
and  attractive  things ;  whereas,  in  the  genius  of  the  law,  purity 
stood  with  stern  brow,  frowning  terror,  deaf  to  mercy  and 
impervious  to  hope,  while  a  thousand  remorseless  shapes 
circled  around  his  head,  and  a  sword  of  judgment  in  his 
right  hand,  like  the  seraph's,  turned  and  flamed  towards 
every  thing  that  liveth. 

Besides  this  new  attractiveness  which  he  hath  shed  over 
the  law,  Christ  the  Saviour  draws  upon  himself  the  admira- 
tion and  devotion  of  every  one  who  receives  the  report  of  his 
salvation  ;  and  a  personal  feeling  of  attachment  is  begotten 
which  works  with  the  utmost  power  upon  every  noble  and 
generous  faculty  of  nature.  There  is  hardly  one  aspect  of 
his  character,  or  one  view  of  his  undertaking  which  doth  not 
move  the  heart.  Man  is  a  creature  who  admires  generosity  ; 
here  it  is  beyond  dimension : — who  loves  mercy  ;  here  it  is 
interfering  for  a  world  and  saving  a  thousand  generations  : 
— who  shouts  applause  when  a  sovereign  condescends  by 
personal  kindness  to  bless  a  mean  and  menial  subject  ;  here 
is  the  Creator  and  ruler  of  heaven  and  earth  serving  and  re- 
deeming the  most  worthless  creatures  of  his  hand.  Man  is 
a  creature  who  feels  for  favours  conferred  upon  himself, and 


132  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

glows  to  requite  his  benefactor  :  here  is  the  interrupted  fa- 
vour of  God  restored,  and  the  inaccessible  fortune  of  heaven 
brought  within  its  reach.  Man  is  a  creature  who  sympa- 
thizes in  his  own  welfare,  and  longs  after  his  own  glory  with 
a  restless  ambition  :  here  is  one  delivering  him  from  the 
odious  captivity  of  sin,  and  opening  up  to  him  the  gates  of 
glory  and  immortality  and  life. 

But  away  from  personal  advantage  there  are  attributes 
about  Christ  which  draw  the  human  soul  after  him  as  an  ob- 
ject of  disinterested  admiration.  Man  is  a  creature  who 
prizeth  steadfast  truth  ;  here  it  is  that  never  blanched  in  the 
utmost  trial  :  who  thirsts  for  wisdom  ;  here  is  the  full  ocean 
of  it :  who  standeth  in  awe  before  power,  and  blesseth  it 
when  mercifully  expended  ;  here  it  is  in  quantity  unlimited, 
never  put  forth  save  to  compose  the  stormy  elements  and 
heal  the  diseased  body  and  soothe  the  troubled  mind,  and 
deliver  victims  from  death  and  the  grave  and  black  corrup- 
tion, their  unsatisfied  daughter.  Man  is  a  creature  who  can- 
not help  loving  a  fellow-man  who  is  of  good  and  gracious 
qualities  ;  here  is  one  gentle  in  hi,s  manners,  sweet  in  his 
temper,  tender  of  heart,  all-bountiful  of  disposition.  Man 
is  a  creature  that  looks  up  to,  and  reposeth  on  one  who  is  of 
great  influence  and  of  a  commanding  nature,  provided  he  be 
also  of  a  merciful  turn  ;  here  is  one  in  whose  authoritative 
presence  no  cruel  nor  deceitful  man  could  appear,  yet  to- 
wards the  good  gentle  as  a  lamb,  to  the  needy  a  physician  of 
soul  and  body,  recovering,  comforting  and  restoring  all  who 
besought  his  aid. 

And  to  cast  over  these  manifold  attractions  the  certainty 
and  duration  of  celestial  natures,  he  is  God  over  all,  the  Al- 
mighty who  was  and  is  and  is  to  come  ;  who  was  to  that  spot 
of  earth  where  he  dwelt  a  guardian  genius,  a  second  angel 
of  Providence  ; — the  former  angel  of  Providence  blessing 
and  afflicting,  bowing  down  and  raising  up  as  he  is  wont,  this 
second  angel  of  Providence  always  coming  after,  to  heal  and 
comfort  and  restore.  And  so  considerate  was  he,  that  he 
left  in  heaven  every  attribute  of  the  deity  which  is  terrible 
and  unapproachable,  and  upon  which  unfallen  spirits  alone 
can  look  without  fear  and  trembling  ;  bringing  with  him  to 
the  earth  only  those  attributes  of  the  divinity  which  might 
comfort  our  abode,  purchase  our  salvation,  and  win  our  ad- 
miration without  losing  of  our  affection  and  trust.  And  what 
more  can  be  said  than  that  as  a  friend,  a  brother,  a  teacher, 
a  Saviour,  a  divine  protector,  he  hath  combined  in  his  cha- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  133 

racter  and  manifested  in  his  life  every  thing  which  can  endear 
him  to  the  soul  of  man. 

I  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  whole  soul  which 
Cometh  to  Christ  is  captivated  with  his  image,  and  by  con- 
straining love  brought  under  his  influence  ;  and  that  a  foun- 
dation is  laid  for  union  and  fellowship  of  nature :  which  at- 
tachment to  the  person  of  Christ  and  adoption  of  his  graces, 
are  identical  with  the  obedience  of  the  law,  seeing  he  is  the 
personification  of  the  law  ;  and  the  breadth  of  this  obedience 
is  commensurate  with  the  breadth  of  the  attachmment  which 
we  have  seen  in  no  less  than  the  whole  capacity  of  man.— 
Let  this  suffice  for  the  commencement  of  the  new  obedience 
springing  from  the  knowledge  of  Christ  and  him  crucified. 

Now  for  the  continuance  and  perpetuity  of  the  same,  there 
is  a  provision  no  less  abundant  than  that  which  hath  been 
set  forth  for  its  commencement  in  the  cancelling  of  past  pro- 
hibitions and  the  overcoming  of  present  disinclinations.  This 
consists  generally  in  the  assurance  of  Christ  and  the  Father, 
that  their  Spirit  shall  supply  our  want  of  energy  and  power  ; 
that,  if  we  walk  by  divine  rule,  we  may  go  on  without  fear 
of  failure,  and  shall  grow  in  holiness  as  the  morning  light 
shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.  He  sets  before 
his  converts  that  weight  of  advantage  which  will  accrue  from 
perseverance,  and  that  redoubled  crime  and  punishmefit 
which  will  come  upon  them  if  they  faJl  away.  He  possesses 
them  with  new  knowledge  of  God,  (which  we  shall  forthwith 
unfold  a  little,)  and  new  sentiments  towards  their  fellow- 
men  ;  so  that  the  whole  strain  of  their  feelings,  human  and 
divine,  becomes  amended.  He  assures  them  of  divine  grace 
to  be  made  sufficient  for  them,  and  divine  strength  to  be 
made  perfect  in  their  weakness.  For  every  difficulty  he 
giveth  a  eounsel,  and  for  every  emergency  a  promise  of  de- 
liverance, and  for  every  trial  a  way  of  escape.  He  swears 
by  his  faithfulness  that  he  will  never  desert  them — that  he 
watcheth  over  them  as  a  shepherd  watcheth  over  his  sheep—. 
that,  as  he  died  for  them,  he  liveth  for  them — as  he  justified 
them  by  his  death,  he  shall  save  them  by  his  life-*^and  that 
he  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them  at  the  throne  of 
God. 

These  assurances  of  God's  establishing  Spirit  are  to  the 
future  what  the  assurances  of  his  forgiveness  are  to  the  past. 
They  array  upon  our  side  all  the  confidence  in  God  and 
Christ,  which  have  been  awakened  by  the  truths  pictured 
above.  We  seem  to  carry  in  our  bosom  a  heavenly  charm, 
by  which  we  shall  be  more  than  conquerors  over  all  our 
'    18 


134  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

enemies.     For  if  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?   It 
IS  Christ  that  justifieth  ;  who  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  So  that 
besides  knocking  off  the  fetters  which  bound  conscience  to 
the  memory  of  the  past,  and  awakening  us  from  sleep  with 
the  voice  of  many  affections,  he  openeth  into  the  future  a 
fine  cheerful  prospect  of  increasing   activity  and  enlarging 
joy.     The  soul  is  comforted  on  each  of  the  three  sides  on 
which  she  toucheth  the  existing  world,  the  past,  the  present, 
and  the  future.  She  is  left  at  ease  from  chiding  memory  and 
biting  remorse,  the  unpaid  accounts  of  former  years  being 
discharged  ;  and  no  distress  nor  execution  awaiteth  her  in 
the  future,  to  scare  her  from  that  quarter  of  thought.     She 
can  ruminate  over  the  past,  to  learn  lessons  of  her  own  in- 
firmity and  her  Maker's  mercy  ;  over  the  future  she  can 
range,  in  the  anticipation  of  progressive  purity  and  blessed- 
ness.    The  whole  aspect  and  economy  of  time  cometh  to  be 
changed.     The  past  which  upbraided,  and  the  future  which 
threatened,  drove  her  with  desperation  to  seize  the  present, 
and  empty  its  cupful  of  enjoyment,  come  what  might.  Now 
the  past,  which  instructeth  her  musings,  and  the  future,  which 
feedeth  her  joyful  hopes,  wean  the  soul  from   the  present 
which  was  wont  to  absorb  her  wholly,  and  she  is  enabled  to 
deal  fairly  by  the  three  provinces  of  time.     The  fierceness 
of  passion  and  pleasure  craving  for  instant  possession,  ceaseth 
to  scorch  up  the  faculties  of  thought  and  purpose.     Coolness 
of  reflection.  Calmness  of  purpose  and  patience  of  hope,  cast 
their  mild  light   in  upon  the  soul,  like  the  beams  of  the 
morning  through  our  casement,  rousing  us  from  the  lethargy 
of  further  indulgence,  and  guiding  forth  our  footsteps  to  the 
healthful  labours  of  life. 

No  sooner  doth  the  soul,  tHus  unbound  and  awakened  and 
encouraged  forth,  adventure  upon  the  keeping  of  the  divine 
commandments,  than  she  gathers,  from  the  revealed  word 
of  God,  a  world  of  new  knowledge,  of  which  heretofore,  in 
all  her  travellings  with  the  works  of  the  wise  and  learned, 
she  had  discovered  nothing.  The  causes  and  intentions  of 
creation,  the  mysteries  of  providence — upon  which  philoso- 
phy can  cast  so  little  light — are  opened  up,  and  she  is  brought 
into  the  secrets  of  the  Most  High.  Her  own  fallen  nature- 
is  disclosed  to  her;  a^great  and  glorious  restoration  is  made 
known  j  and,  whereas  she  formerly  beheld  in  her  own  con- 
stitution an  inscrutable  mystery,  and  felt  a  constant  warfare 
within,  she  is  now  taught  what  she  was  at  first  and  what 
hath  brought  on  her  present  degradation,  how  she  may  have 


OP   JUDGMENT    TO    COME.  135 

peace,  and  by  what  means  she  may  ascend  unto  a  place  as 
high  if  not  higher  than  that  from  which  she  hath  fallen. 

She  Cometh  to  know,  that  this  God,  whom  she  fancied 
hidden  in  secrecy,  sits  displayed  on  every  visible  object  j 
that  this  God,  whom  she  had  placed  remote  from  her  con- 
cerns, is  full  of  carefulness  over  her  welfare,  and  of  promise 
for  every  want  and  enjoyment  of  her  being.  That  he  hath 
made  a  promise  for  the  bread  which  we  eat,  and  for  the  rai- 
ment wherewith  we  are  clothed  ;  for  the  rain  which  watereth 
the  earth,  and  for  the  dew  which  makcth  the  outgoings  of  the 
evening  and  the  morning  to  rejoice  ;  that  his  bow  in  the 
heavens  is  a  promise  of  seedtime  and  harvest  to  endure  for 
the  nourishment  of  every  thing  that  lives  ;  that  he  holdeth 
the  gifts  of  knowledge  and  understanding  and  a  sound  mind 
in  his  hand,  and  serveth  them  out  to  men  j  that  power  also 
is  his,  and  length  of  days  and,  riches  and  honour.  All  these 
regions  which  aforetime  floated  in  our  mind  as  the  domain 
of  fickle  fortune,  or  were  given  into  the  hands  of  a  fixed  fate, 
or  made  dependant  on  the  agency  and  freewill  of  man,  turn 
out,  upon  knowing  the  promises  of  God,  to  be  administra- 
tions of  his  bounty  for  sustaining  the  world  and  comforting 
its  afflicted  state  ; — remnants  of  his  creation-gifts,  which  he 
did  not  remove  at  the  great  forfeiture  of  all  our  estate,  but 
secured  for  ever,  as  divine  attachments,  to  hold  us  to  him- 
self, against  the  great  current  of  sin  which  drifteth  all  things 
into  the  cold  and  frozen  regions  where  God  is  forgotten  and 
unknown.  Thus  fortune  and  fate  and  human  power,  and 
every  adventure  and  change  in  human  life  become  hung  and 
suspended  from  the  throne  of  God,  so  soon  as  we  compre- 
hend the  revelations  of  the  Almighty's  purposes.  The 
atheism  of  human  thought,  and  the  godlessness  of  human  ac- 
tion pass  away,  and  in  their  stead  come  a  knowledge  of  the 
divine  nature,  and  a  confidence  in  the  divine  promises.  The 
blankness  and  blackness  of  the  future  become  enlivened  with 
holy  light.  Footing  is  found  for  the  bright  daughters  of 
hope  to  clear  the  way,  that  warm  wishes  and  constant  pur- 
poses may  follow  after  j  and  into  real  existence  cometh  the 
fancy  of  the  poet : 

Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast, 
Man  never  is,  but  always  to  be  blest. 

Having  thus  gathered  by  perusal  of  God's  revelations, 
how  much,  in  the  past  times  when  we  did  not  acknowledge 
him,  he  was  working  out  the  health  and  happiness  of  our 
life,  how  the  sun  did  rise  and  the  rain  descend  upon  our 


136  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

fields,  all  the  same  as  upon  the  fields  of  the  righteous  and 
devout,  we  become  wonder-struck  with  a  sense  of  his  for- 
giveness and  his  good-will  to  the  worst  of  men.  We  say, 
What  could  induce  him  to  feed  and  clothe  and  comfort  us, 
who  were  shutting  our  ears  to  the  knowledge  and  steeling 
our  hearts  to  the  feeling  of  his  goodness,  and  counter-work- 
ing all  his  gracious  designs !  why  did  he  not  contract  his 
bounty,  or  send  the  stream  of  it  another  way  !  We  deserved 
nothing,  we  returned  him  nothing ;  surely  his  loving  kind- 
ness hath  been  great  and  his  forbearance  unspeakable,  while 
we  followed  false  and  fabulous  imaginations  :  how  much 
more  kindly  loving  and  how  much  more  forbearing  will  he 
now  be  when  we  give  ourselves  to  search  out  his  revealed 
purposes,  and  to  walk  in  all  his  statutes  and  commandments 
blameless ! 

Thus  the  soul,  when  she  betaketh  herself  to  consult  the 
councils  of  the  Lord,cometh  to  love  him  at  every  new  step 
of  discovery,  and  to  admire  his  mercy  and  forgiveness  and 
most  disinterested  goodness  towards  her,  while  she  lay  en- 
veloped in  a  darkness  of  her  own  making.  How  much  more 
doth  she  admire  and  magnify  his  name,  when  besides  re- 
covering the  two  lost  provinces  of  creation  and  providence, 
she  Gomes  to  know  the  two  new  provinces  of  grace  and  glory, 
prepared  for  her  and  for  all  who  walk  in  the  ways  of  holi- 
ness. 

Then  she  beginneth  to  burst  the  shell  of  her  former  dark- 
ness, and  to  open  her  eyes  on  light ;  her  callow  nakedness 
sprouteth  with  a  divine  plumage  ;  she  spreadeth  her  wings 
and  ariseth  to  heaven,  and  floateth  over  the  oceans  of  eter- 
nity ;  she  soarethlike  the  eagle,  andlooketh  steadily  into  the 
face  of  God  ;  she  feeleth  for  the  divine  Spirit  within  her,  and 
setteth  her  heart  upon  all  excellency.  She  glorieth  evermore 
in  the  predictions  and  promises  of  God  to  put  her  corruption 
to  death  and  reconcile  her  unto  himself,  to  write  holiness 
upon  all  her  members  and  holiness  upon  her  inward  parts,  to 
strike  fruits  of  righteousness  in  her  barren  bosom,  to  take 
away  her  hard  and  stony  heart  and  give  her  a  heart  of  flesh, 
upon  the  tablets  whereof  to  write  his  laws,  that  it  may  be- 
come a  temple  for  his  Holy  Spirit  to  dwell  in ;  to  hide  all 
her  transgressions  and  cover  all  her  sins,  and  give  her  rest 
from  a  clamorous  conscience  and  accursed  fears,  that  she 
may  have  peace  and  be  refreshed  with  the  full  river  of  joy 
which  maketh  glad  the  city  of  God.  She  comprehendeth  the 
fulness  of  his  grace,  she  bindeth  herself  to  holiness  with 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.       '  137 

.  f 
eords  of  the  strongest  love,  and  rejpiceth  in  her  God  as  all 
her  salvation  and  all  her  joy. 

Then  cometh  into  view  the  end  and  consummation  of  his 
love  ;  the  fulness  of  future  glory,  worthy,  and  alone  worthy, 
to  follow  such  a  procession  of  creation  and  providence  and 
grace,  the  three  visible  kingdoms  of  the  Almighty's  bounty. 
The  promises  which  fetch  this  out  from  the  hidden  place  be- 
yond the  limits  of  time  and  visible  things,  are  the  brightest 
of  all  the  rest.  This  body — the  seed-bed  of  pains  and  dis- 
eases, the  nurse  of  appetites  and  passions  strong — shall  be 
renovated  most  glorious  to  behold,  most  durable,  most 
sweetly  compacted,  and  yielding  most  exquisite  sensations 
of  bliss.  This  society,  so  ripe  with  deceivers,  betrayers, 
slanderers  and  workers  of  mischief,  shall  be  winnowed  of  all 
its  chaff,  and  constituted  anew  under  God's  own  government, 
where  shall  be  conjoined  such  intimacies  and  loving  unions, 
as  shall  put  to  the  blush  friendship  and  love  and  brotherhood, 
and  every  terrestrial  affinity.  And  the  soul  which  here  doth 
peep  and  feel  about  the  surface'of  things,  shall  dive  then  into 
all  mysteries  of  knowledge.  Intuition  shall  see  far  and  near 
the  essences  of  all  created  things.  And  all  intelligence  shajl 
fan  flames  of  benevolence,  and  feed  eternal  purposes  of  well- 
doing to  every  creature  within  our  reach.  All  heaven  shall 
smile  for  us  ;  for  us  every  neighbouring  creature  shall  labour 
and  we  for  them.  Angels  with  the  sons  of  men  shall  ex- 
change innocent  love,  and  the  creatures  under  man  shall 
serve  him  with  love,  and  drink  from  him  their  joy  as  we 
shall  drink  our  joy  from  the  service  of  God.  Oh  !  who  shall 
tell  the  glory  of  those  new  heavens  and  new  earth  wherein 
dvvelleth  righteousness.  The  imagery  of  inspired  minds  is 
exhausted  on  the  theme,  and  all  their  descriptions,  I  am 
convinced,  fall  as  far  short  of  the  reality,  as  the  description 
of  Nature's  beauty  falls  short  of  the  sight  and  feeling  of  her 
charms.  All  language  is  a  pale  reflexion  of  thought,  all 
thought  a  pale  reflexion  of  present  sensation,  and  all  sensa- 
tion this  world  hath  ever  generated,  a  sickly,  faint  idea  of 
what  shall  be  generated  hereafter  in  the  soul  and  body  of 
man. 

This  body  of  truth,  touching  God's  presidency  over  the 
four  great  kingdoms  of  his  dispensations — Creation,  Provi- 
dence, Grace,  and  Glory,  is  all  unknown  until  by  his  reveal- 
ed word  it  becomes  discovered.  Such  knowledge  will,  if 
any  thing  will,  produce  upon  the  mind  an  abiding  attach- 
ment to  God  ;  and  no  attachment  to  him  can  exist  till  these 
the  characters  t)f  his  operations  become  known.     For  he  is 


138  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

not  to  be  beloved  by  sympathy  of  heart  or  shnilarity  of  con- 
scious nature  ;  as  man  loveth  his  fellow-man.  His  manner 
of  existence  is  a  mystery  undisclosed  and  undiscernible,  and 
unfelt  by  every  creature.  He  liveth  unapproachable.  What 
he  is,  where  he  is,  how  he  is,  no  created  thing  can  under- 
stand. All  knowledge  of  him  and  love  of  him  must  there- 
fore come  from  beholding  his  works,  or  feeling  his  work- 
manship within  us,  or  rejoicing  in  the  power  he  hath  deriv- 
ed to  us,  or  knowing  the  councils  or  intentions  of  his  mind  ; 
which  are  nowhere  expounded  save  in  the  record  of  his  pro- 
mises and  of  his  acts,  which  are  promises  fulfilled.  There- 
fore it  stands  to  reason,  that  until  these  promises  are  studied 
and  trusted  to,  no  sincere  love  or  generous  devotion  to  the 
Godhead  will  divulge  itself  in  our  thoughts,  words,  or  deeds: 
that  when  they  are  fixed  and  rooted  in  the  mind,  there  is  no 
end  to  the  delight  which  we  shall  have  in  fulfilling  the  will 
and  pleasure  of  him  who  doth  so  much  and  intendeth  so 
much  for  our  everlasting  welfare. 

Such  are  the  provisions  which  Christ  hath  made  for  com- 
mencing and  continuing  the  obedience  of  the  law  of  God. 
They  consist,  in  brief,  in  removing  heavy  obstacles  which 
sickened  the  heart — in  making  the  path  as  attractive  and  ea- 
sy as  is  possible  for  a  fallen  creature — in  attaching  us  with 
all  our  powers  unto  himself,  our  leader  and  commander — in 
pouring  into  us  the  full  spirit  of  performance,  the  sum  of 
saving  knowledge,  the  full  tide  of  expectation,  with  the  un- 
alterable assurance  of  success.  The  whole  face  of  aflPairs  is 
changed  by  the  introduction  of  this  new  personage  ;  the 
work  to  be  done  is  cast  anew,  and  the  power  of  man  to  do  it 
is,  as  it  were,  raised  from  the  grave. 

And  here  we  make  a  pause,  to  cast  a  look  back  upon  the 
progress  which  we  have  made  in  delineating  the  constitu- 
tion under  which  the  world  is  placed.  After  shewing  its 
many  passing  excellencies  in  the  last  discourse,  we  found 
ourselves  hemmed  in  with  a  consciousness  of  transgression 
from  which  no  source  of  reason  was  able  to  discover  an  es- 
cape. This  circumference  of  impeding  guilt  not  only  hath 
the  Lord  Jesus  cast  down,  and  made  enlargement  to  our 
feet,  but  he  hath,  as  it  were,  superinduced  upon  the  insti- 
tute of  law  an  institute  of  power  to  keep  the  law.  He  hath 
presented  a  mass  of  truth  in  his  Gospel  concerning  both  him- 
self and  ourselves,  which  puts  metal  and  temper  into  the 
mind  for  coping  with  the  extreme  positions  of  the  law  ;  and 
this  new  competency  he  hath  given  us  by  fair,  natural  means, 
addressing  to  us  honest  and  honourable  inducements  from 


OF  JUDGMElfT  TO  COME,  139 

this  world  and  the  world  to  come.     He  hath  not,  like  the 
reasoners   exposed   in  the   beginning  of  this  discourse,  en- 
deavoured to  degrade   the   sublime  elevations  of  the   law  ; 
which    work  enthusiasm    upon  the  heart,   as   the  heaven- 
piercing  peaks  of  a  mountainous  country  work  enthusiasm 
upon  the  imagination :  neither  hath   he  deposed   conscience 
from  the  post  of  observation  to  replace  her  with  some   less 
lynx-eyed  guardian,   but  on  the  contrary,  by  the  unction  of 
his  Spirit  he  cleanseth  her  eye  and   maketh   it  more  eagle- 
piercing.     But  he  hath  clothed  the  law  in  performance,  and 
stood  up  its  practical  interpreter,  not  to  the  ear  but  to  the 
eye,  to  the  heart,  and  to  every  sympathy  whereof  the  heart 
is  the  sacred  seat.     It  comes   now  to  us  sanctioned  by  our 
dearest  friend,  our  noisiest  kinsman  the  Son  of  God  and  the 
Son  of  man  ;  teaching  by   example,  and  working  by  the   de- 
sire to  be  like  him  whom  we  love.     Its  accusations  for  past 
sins  which  overloaded  memory  and  overclouded  hope,  and 
with  joylessness  sickened  all  present  activity,  he  hath  scatter- 
ed and  dissolved.     The  soul  is  delivered  from  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death,  from  a  fearful  pit  and  from  the  miry 
clay  :  her  feet  are  set  upon  a  rock,  and  a  new  song  is  put  into 
her  mouth.    Having  made  us  free  men,  joyful  free  men,  he 
layeth  siege  to  us  by  every  sweet  and  noble  suit.  He  putteth  on 
human  charities  as  a  raiment,  and  godly  graces  as  a  vesture. 
Thus  arrayed,  he  comes  with  honourable  language,  address- 
ing us  as  friends  and  brothers.  Then  he  unsealeth  high  over- 
tures, setting  before  us  enlargement  from  ignominious  fallen 
nature,   into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God — refine- 
ment of  our  gross  impurity,  into  the  image  of  God  created 
in  righteousness  and   true   holiness.     Oh  !  it  is  a  noble  mu- 
sic  Vv'hich    he  maketh    to  the  soul    of  man  :  sweet  as    the 
breathing  sonnet  of  lovers,  and  spirit-stirring  as   the  min- 
strelsy of  glorious   war  ;  it  rouseth  to  noble  deeds   like  the 
Tyrtean  song,  sung  on   the   eve  of  battle  to   noble   Spartan 
youth  ;  and  it  rejoiceth  the  heart  of  sin-oppressed  nature  as 
the  voice  of  liberty  from  Tully's    lips,   rejoiced  the  senate- 
house  of  Rome   upon  the  famous  Ides  of  March,  when  the 
g£>dlike  Brutus — 


Shook  his  crimson  steel, 

A)id  bade  the  father  of  his  country  hail. 

Oh  !  that  the  spirit  of  the  antients  would  rise  again  and 
ashame  these  modern  men,  who  go  dreaming  in  univeristies 
over  a  philosophy  which  no  kernel  of  nourishing  food,  a 
philosophy  of  mind  they  tall  it,  l^ut  it  is  a  mind  without  a 


140  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

heart, — whb  go  wearying  the  dull  ear  of  senates  with  talk 
about  law,  and  jargon  about  the  moral  government  of  men  ; 
while  in  all  their  researches  after  wisdom  and  government, 
they  see  no  form  nor  comeliness  in  the  institutes  of  God, 
and  hear  no  music  to  enchant  them  in  the  gospel  of  Christ, 
though  it  poureth  the  full  diapason  of  harmony  into  the 
heart  of  man ; — which  their  deafness  to  the  voice  divine 
doth  interpret  the  platonic  notion  of  the  music  of  the  spheres, 
— most  ravishing  melody  ever  sounding  in  the  ears  of  men, 
yet  inaudible  from  the  noise  and  bustle  in  the  midst  of 
which  they  have  their  abodes.  Methinks  the  quiet  groves 
of  Pythagoras,  where  they  would  have  five  years  of  silent 
meditation  with  their  own  thoughts  and  study  of  the  divine 
oracles,  or  the  school  of  Socrates,  that  chastiser  of  haughty 
sophists,  or  the  oratory  of  Paul,  who  converted  members  of 
the  renowned  Areopagus,  and  shook  a  monarch  upon  his 
royal  seat,  or  something  equally  powerful  were  needed  to 
move  this  age  and  generation  of  learned  men,  who  look  to 
Christ  as  if  he  were  a  fanatic,  above  whose  ignoble  sphere 
they  stand  most  highly  exalted. 

But,  in  the  ear  oT  that  justice  of  which  they  affect  the 
quest,  and  of  that  well-being  of  the  mind  for  which  they  pro- 
fess to  consult,  I  do  solemnly  invoke  them ;  and — (though 
the  age  of  chivalry  be  past,  and  this  cause  of  ours  be  not 
served  by  defiance) — moved  by  their  lethargy  and  indiffer- 
ence to  that  which  should  set  their  life  in  action,  I  do  chal- 
lenge them  ;  to  show  me  in  all  the  records  of  history  or 
speculation,  any  one  constitution  of  laws  in  spirit  so  pure,  in 
application  so  extensive,  in  effect  so  beneficial,  in  motives  so 
spirit-stirring  and  spirit-ennobling,  in  its  whole  machinery  so 
complete,  and  in  its  several  parts  so  excellent,  as  this  consti- 
tution of  law  and  gospel  hath  been  proved  to  be.  I  do  so- 
lemnly pledge  myself  to  keep  the  field  against  all  the  devi- 
ces of  moralists  or  legislators  for  the  elevation  of  human  na- 
ture, in  defence  of  this  divine  constitution,  by  which  that  love 
the  mind  hath  in  exact  equity  is  satisfied  ;  by  which  all  the 
good  that  accrues  to  the  individual  or  the  commonwealth 
from  the  obedience  of  wholesome  laws  is  secured  ;  by  which 
all  pure  sentiments  are  indulged — all  enthusiasm  of  the 
heart  awakened — all  tender  affections  full-blown — all  noble 
desires  drawn  out — all  soft  and  exquisite  graces  of  demean- 
our patronized — all  stem  and  unbending  virtues  upheld ;  by 
which,  to  crown  all,  anticipation  is  allowed  to  steep  his  wings 
in  the  bliss  of  heaven,  and  Time  runs  posting  onwards  to  his 
^rave,  driving  before  him  to  their  graves  all  cares,  troubles. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  141 

weaknesses,  and  sorrows,  whence  eternity  awaketh  us  girt 
about  with  beauty  and  with  strength,  to  fill  up  the  measure 
and  duration  of  celestial  engagements. 

Here  endeth  our  scheme  of  the  constitution  under  which 
it  hath  pleased  God  to  place  the  world  ;  but  before  passing 
to  the  sanction  thereof,  it  seemeth  good  to  gather  it  into  one, 
and,  with  a  word  of  advice  and  warning  to  set  it  forth,  as 
they  were  wont  in  ancient  times,  and  are  wont  still  in  the  island 
of  Japan,  to  post  up  in  conspicuous  places  brief  summaries 
of  the  laws  for  the  information  of  the  people. 

The  Gospel  is  intended  to  honour  the  law  and  to  patron- 
ize holiness — being  not  an  end  but  an  expedient  for  an  end. 
The  advancement  of  human  nature  in  the  holiness  of  the  law 
—that  is  the  end,  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ — that  is  the  in- 
strument. To  gain  this  end,  it  catches  fallen  nature  softly 
upon  every  side,  and  gently  elevates  it  with  the  breath  of  in- 
struction and  affection  into  favour  with  God.  Thereunto 
God's  moral  nature  appears  in  human  guise,  performing  be- 
fore the  eye  and  heart  of  man,  upon  the  stage  of  human  life, 
a  drama  or  representation  of  God's  true  sentiments  and  feel- 
ings towards  our  kind.  Along  with  this  attractive  represen- 
tation of  the  divinity,  Christ  brings  the  rudiments  out  of 
which  to  construct  a  new  heart  and  life  ;  viz.  new  principles 
of  conduct — new  hopes — new  ambitions — new  interests  ;  and 
he  brings  new  graces  of  character — meekness,  humility,  for- 
bearance and  charity ;  and  he  brings  new  institutes  of  life, 
the  particulars  of  the  moral  law  ;  and  withal  he  brings  new 
rewards — peace  of  conscience,  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  in- 
crease of  grace  and  assurance  of  everlasting  glory.  With 
all  which,  as  his  instrument,  he  would  take  a  purchase  upon 
the  sunken  fabric  of  human  nature,  and  raise  it  up  towards 
the  dignity  from  which  it  fell. 

Now  it  must  be  confessed,  that  with  all  this  moral  machi- 
nery, which  is,  we  believe,  the  best  that  divine  wisdom  could 
devise  for  the  work,  the  work  is  not  completely  accomplished. 
After  all,  the  Gospel  doth  not  secure  perfect  obedience  to 
the  law  upon  the  part  of  man,  but  it  bringeth  him  up  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  excellence  that  his  nature  is  capable  of.  It 
doth  not  lead  him  again  into  the  innocency  of  Eden,  or  bring 
back  to  his  soul  the  primeval  sinlessness  left  upon  it  by  the 
creative  fingers  of  God  : — but  it  doth  the  best  that  could  be 
done.  The  best  Christian  that  ever  lived  is  a  poor  creature 
compared  with  father  Adam,  while  yet  he  trod  the  earth  in 
the  majesty  of  innocence  with  all  the  lower  tribes  attendant 
on  his  steps — his  body  purely  attempered  to'the  scene,  his 

19 


i4S  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

soul  replete  with  celestial  instincts — angels  of  light  his  visi- 
tants, and  God  himself  cheering  his  yet  unsullied  habitation. 
And,  by  how  much  mother  Eve  was  fairer  than  all  her 
daughters,  by  so  much  was  she  more  pure,  more  tenderly  af- 
fectioned,  more  modest,  more  chaste  from  the  throb  of  pas- 
sion or  the  tinge  of  shaded  thought,  than  the  purest  vestal 
or  the  holiest  matron  that  hath  ever  lived.  It  was  for  them 
to  render  perfect  obedience  to  the  moral  code  of  Christ.  It 
was  for  Christ  the  Son  of  God,  the  second  Adam,  to  render 
it  obedience  also.  Ours  it  is  to  be  content  with  humbler  at- 
tainments ;  to  do  our  utmost  in  the  strength  of  the  Word 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  and,  having  done  so,  to  be  humble, 
full  of  confession  and  prayer,  full  of  trust  in  him,  who,  after 
he  has  done  the  most  upon  us  here  below,  hath  promised  to 
complete  his  work,  by  acquitting  us  in  the  day  of  judgment, 
and  saving  us  from  the  wrath  to  come. 

So  that,  after  all,  it  comes  to  this,  that  we  do  our  best : — 
but  then  it  is  with  evangelical  instruments  that  we  do  our 
best.  We  do  our  best  after  taking  to  ourselves  the  whole 
armour  of  God  :  the  moralist  doth  his  best  without  that  ar- 
mour. The  saint,  possessing  himself  of  all  knowledge  and 
hope  and  grace  which  the  Gospel  reveals,  does  his  best ;  the 
moralist,  neglecting  these,  and  leaning  to  Nature  alone,  does 
his  best.  The  one  honours  God  throughout,  the  other  hon- 
ours Nature  throughout ;  the  one  is  a  disciple  of  Christ,  the 
other  a  disciple  of  reason  alone  ;  the  one  therefore  may  look 
for  favour  at  God's  hand,  whom  he  hath  in  nothing  under- 
valued, the  other  may  look  for  disfavour  from  God,  whose 
instructions  he  hath  set  aside  ;  the  one  may  look  for  success, 
being  guided  by  the  higher  wisdom  and  moved  along  by  the 
stronger  affections  of  the  Gospel,  the  other  has  no  success  to 
expect  save  from  the  urgency  of  endeavours  and  the  strenu- 
ousness  of  resolutions.  The  moralist  is  like  a  ship  spreading 
her  canvass  without  wind  to  fill  it ;  the  Christian  spreads  the 
same  canvass,  and  has  all  the  moving  power  which  the  Gos- 
pel can  give.  Moreover  the  moralist  bows  himself  to  a  task  ; 
the  Christian  cheers  himself  to  an  office  of  love :  the  one  as 
he  advances  becomes  highminded,  as  he  fails  becomes  heart- 
broken ;  the  other  as  he  advances  becomes  thankful  and  glad, 
as  he  fails  becomes  humble  and  watchful,  but  not  heartbro- 
ken :  the  one  knows  of  no  acquittal  for  his  daily,  hourly  of- 
fences ;  the  other  knows  of  a  Redeemer:  the  one,  when  na- 
ture sinks  beneath  the  effort,  knows  not  of  any  fresh  supply  ; 
the  other  in  the  midst  of  his  weakness  knows  of  grace  that  is 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  143 

sufficient  for  him,  and  of  strength  that  is  perfected  in  weak- 
ness. 

But,  though  it  be  not  complete  obedience  that  is  obtained 
under  this  constitution,  we  are  not  to  conclude  that  the  con- 
stitution is  imperfect : — on  the  other  hand,  it  hath  no  weak 
part  which  we  can  discern.  It  saves  the  character  of  God, 
upon  the  consistency  of  which  all  his  intelligent  creatures 
hang  dependent,  by  presenting  a  law  reaching  out  in  all  di- 
rections to  the  sublime  of  moral  virtue  ;  while  at  the  same 
time  it  exhibits  his  tenderness  and  love  to  his  creatures 
through  the  image  of  his  Son  and  the  merciful  overtures  of 
the  Gospel.  It  sets  before  our  eyes  the  ideal  of  every  thing 
perfect,  familiarizing  our  knowledge  with  the  perfection  of 
virtue,  strewing  the  path  of  virtue  with  promises,  and  plant- 
ing at  the  goal  the  rewards  of  eternity  ; — which  will,  if  any 
thing  will,  stimulate  us  to  put  forth  our  best.  And,  that  the 
enthusiasm  thus  begotten,  by  being  compassed  about  with 
weakness  and  aiming  at  impossibilities,  may  not  speedily  ex- 
pend itself,  the  constitution  of  the  Gospel,  broad  as  human 
feeling,  comes  and  lays  honourable  hold  on  every  good  sen- 
timent and  substantial  interest,  and  putting  life  into  every  si- 
new of  the  mind,  gives  it  wherewithal  to  sustain  its  enthusi- 
asm after  holiness  unceasingly.  Yea,  moreover,  to  catch 
every  favourable  breeze  for  setting  out,  it  is  aye  ready,  like 
an  open  haven,  to  receive  us,  overlooking  delay,  welcoming 
us  to  refit  however  disabled,  filling  every  sail,  and  giving  us 
assurance  of  speeding  well.  This  is  the  beginning  of  it ; 
and  the  continuance  of  it  is  by  the  same  cheerful  and  blessed 
encouragement.  That  indemnification  for  past  offences 
which  gave  us  heart  to  begin,  being  equally  applicable  to 
present  disabilities  and  errors,  gives  us  heart  to  carry  on. 

We  do  not  reach  the  commanded,  it  is  true,  but  we  do 
never  satisfy  ourselves  with  having  done  the  best.  We  are 
alive  to  the  things  which  are  still  before,  and  strive  to  reach 
them.  Our  imperfections  make  us  humble  and  meek  and  of 
fervent  prayer  j  and  could  no  more  be  wanted  than  our  at- 
tainments, which  make  us  conscious  of  the  love  of  God  and 
the  resemblance  of  Christ.  But  these  imperfections  do  not 
hang  in  heavy  arrears  upon  conscience,  but  pass  away  through 
the  mercy  of  our  God  in  Christ,  and  as  they  recur  they  draw 
us  near  to  Christ  through  the  sense  of  weakness  and  forlorn- 
ness  without  him.  So  that  the  evil  and  the  good,  the  attain- 
ment and  the  failure,  come  in  for  their  share  in  cultivating 
our  completeness  in  the  stature  of  Christ. 


144  er  judgment  to  come. 

In  fine,  the  dispensation  of  the  Gospel  answereth  to  man's 
condition,  as  heart  doth  to  heart,  or  face  to  face.  It  is  a 
stimulus  to  our  advancement ;  it  rallies  us  when  driven  back, 
and  breathes  hope  in  the  most  perilous  extremes.  But, 
though  it  be  a  refuge  in  discomfiture,  it  is  no  encouragement 
to  shun  the  encounter.  That  forgiveness  of  God  through 
Christ,  which  is  its  watchword,  is  not  yielded,  save  to  a 
spirit  that  truly  sighs  after  it  j  none  of  these  consolations  of 
grace  and  mercy  come  to  any  who  are  not  occupied  to  their 
Utmost  with  the  sincerest  desire  after  holiness.  No  one  can 
calculate  on  this  acceptance  into  favour,  or  this  remission  of 
his  daily  sins,  who  is  not  occupying  his  faculties  and  his 
means  with  Christian  efforts,  strengthened  and  sustained  by 
Christian  hopes  and  Christian  aids.  The  moment  he  ceases 
to  make  head  after  his  captain's  orders  he  loseth  of  his  cap- 
tain's favour,  and  if  he  come  not  under  obedience  he  in- 
herits double  disgrace  in  the  end. — So  that  the  spiritual  man 
is  held  to  obedience  by  his  affections,  his  interests,  his  desires, 
his  hopes,  his  fears,  his  every  faculty  and  power  ; — than 
which  nothing  more  can  be  made  of  Any  creature  perfect  or 
imperfect. 

Now  as  to  those  who  hold  out  against  this  constitution  of 
grace  and  justice  and  mercy,  refusing  to  shelter  themselves 
beneath  law  and  gospel,  the  two  wings  of  his  love,  with  which 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  overshadoweth  the  tabernacles  of  men, 
(though  this  is  not  the  time  to  speak  of  judgment)  we  cannot 
close  without  asking  them  what  defence  they  can  set  up  for 
themselves  at  all.  They  admite  not  the  purity  of  the  law, 
else  they  would  long  to  reach  as  near  to  it  as  possible  through 
the  means  of  the  Gospel ;  they  fear  not  its  undischarged  de- 
mands, else  they  would  flee  to  the  cross  of  Christ  for  a  ran- 
som ;  they  are  not  accessible  to  affection,  else  Christ's  chari- 
ties would  attract  them  ;  they  are  not  grateful  for  favours, 
else  Christ's  unspeakable  gifts  would  ingratiate  him  with 
their  souls  ;  they  care  not  for  the  favour  of  God,  else  they 
would  revere  its  overtures  ;  they  are  not  afraid  of  judgment, 
else  they  would  provide  against  its  issues.  Heaven  they  af- 
fect not  ;  hell  they  dread  not.  The  compass  of  God's 
promises  containeth  no  attraction ;  the  scope  of  his  power 
createth  no  awe  ;  the  magnitude  of  his  threatenings  engen- 
dereth  no  terror.  The  past  hath  no  sticking  remorses,  the 
womb  of  the  future  no  fearful  presentiments.  The  present 
world  gloweth  before  them  in  all  the  glory  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem ;  time  filleth  their  minds  like  the  immensity  of  eter- 
nity ;  the  favour  of  the  world  stands  them  in  the  stead  of 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  145 

God's.  Some  form  of  creation  is  their  idol,  some  condition 
of  earth  their  heaven. 

Men  who  have  thus  stood  out  against  the  overtures  of 
God,  and  steeled  their  hearts  to  the  noble  and  engaging 
sentiments  of  the  Gospel,  have  made  free  choice  of  the  fatal 
consequences,  and  have  themselves  alone  to  blame.  They 
cannot  dispute  God's  right  to  place  us  under  government, 
nor  that  the  constitution  of  government,  under  which  he  hath 
placed  us,  is  well  devised  to  please  every  good  feeling  and  to 
uphold  every  good  interest.  In  rejecting  it,  therefore,  they 
stand  condemned  at  the  bar  of  every  good  feeling  which  re- 
fused to  listen  to  his  voice,  and  of  every  good  interest  which 
refused  to  be  built  up  by  his  power.  And,  if  it  should  ap- 
pear in  the  progress  of  this  enquiry,  that  God  denudes  their 
future  being  of  those  good  feelings  which  would  not  hear  his 
voice,  and  ships  them  far  away  from  those  good  interests 
which  would  not  be  upheld  by  his  power,  can  they  have  the 
boldness  to  complain  ?  Why,  the  whole  matter  is  before  them  ! 
They  can  take  or  reject  ;  and  if  they  coolly  reject,  they  must 
stand  to  the  consequences  of  their  choice. 

No  legislator  ever  pledged  himself  to  make  laws  which  no 
one  would  break :  neither  does  God.  The  legislator  makes  the 
best  he  can  devise,  and  assigns  to  the  breaking  of  them  suit- 
able punishments  :  so  doth  God<  A  culprit  may  curse  the 
law,  but  the  law  seizeth  him  notwithstanding  :  so  doth  God. 
This  is  universally  held  just,  wise,  and  the  greatest  mercy 
upon  the  whole  :  why  should  not  God  have  the  same  verdict 
of  our  mind  ?  For  no  Code  was  ever  constructed  on  such 
principles  of  mercy  and  forgiveness  as  his,  or  took  such  pains 
to  captivate  its  subjects  to  obedience.  But  have  our  verdict, 
or  not  have  it,  God  careth  not.  He  hath  prepared  a  consti- 
tution upon  which  all  men  may  be  justified  before  all  created 
intelligences,  and  upon  which  they  may  be  condemned  before 
all  created  intelligences  ;  upon  which  he  can  justify  himself 
to  himself,  and  to  the  noble  orders  of  creation,  and  even  to  our 
own  conscience,  reprobate  and  sunken  though  it  be.  That 
is  all,  and  there  needeth  no  more  upon  this  head  of  our  ar- 
gument. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 


PART  IV. 


THE  GOOD  EFFECTS  OF   THE  ABOVE  CONSTITUTION,  BOTH 
UPON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  AND  UPON  POLITICAL  SOCIETY. 


God  is  not  wanting  in  his  care  of  that  constitution  under 
which  he  hath  placed  the  world  ;  but  accompanies  the  accept- 
ance and  obedience  thereof,  with  all  the  rewards  which  the 
soul  of  man  is  capable  of  tasting  in  this  sublunary  state. 

Being  turned  to  contemplate  those  pictures  of  purity  which 
the  law  contains,  we  forget  all  meaner  things,  and  are  de- 
livered by  degrees  from  the  vulgar  fears  and  ordinary  mea- 
sures under  which  we  were  formerly  in  bondage.  The 
guardianship  of  human  laws  and  the  eye  of  man,  the  laugh 
of  the  world  and  the  world's  frown,  to  which  we  are  such 
slaves,  lose  their  power  in  proportion  as  conscience,  which 
is  the  eye  of  the  mind,  comes  to  take  the  oversight  of  our  af- 
fairs. A  liberty,  a  self-mastery,  an  independance  upon  the 
opinions  of  others,  and  a  mind  ever  conscious  of  a  right  in- 
tention, come  instead  of  artifice  and  cunning  and  plodding 
adherence  to  customary  rules.  And  this  self-guidance  is 
hindered  from  degenerating  into  self-conceit  or  self-willed- 
ness,  by  the  constant  superiority  of  the  law  of  God,  which  is, 
as  it  were,  the  telescope  through  which  conscience  looks 
upon  the  world  of  duty.  The  spheres  of  honour  and  honesty 
and  domestic  worth  and  patriotism  become  absorbed,  with 
all  the  estimable  things  which  they  contain,  in  the  wider 
sphere  of  obedience  unto  God,  which  contains  them  as  the 
primum  mobile  of  the  ancient  astronomers  contained  the  ce- 
lestial spheres. 

Now  it  cannot  otherwise  happen,  than  that  a  mind  con- 
stantly accustomed  to  behold,  and  constantly  training  itself 
to  practise  whatever  is  noble  and  good,  must  grow  greatly 
in  its  own  esteem,  and  advance  likewise  in  the  estimation  of 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  147 

the  wise  and  good,  and  rise  into  influence  over  the  better 
part  of  men :  so  that  there  will  attend  upon  the  goings  of 
the  servant  of  God,  a  light  which  shineth  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day,  a  harmony  of  motion  pleasant  to  all 
beholders,  and  a  liberty  of  action  delightful  to  himself. 
There  will  also  grow  within  his  soul  a  unison  of  faculties 
through  the  tuition  of  the  law  of  God  ; — impetuous  passions 
being  tamed,  irregular  affections  being  guided  in  their  proper 
courses,  the  understanding  being  fed  from  the  fountain  of 
truth,  hope  looking  to  revelations  that  shall  never  be  removed, 
and  will  being  subordinated  to  the  good  pleasure  of  God. 
Like  a  busy  state,  in  which  there  is  no  jarring  of  parties,  but 
one  heart  and  one  soul  through  all  its  people  ;  like  the  body, 
when  every  member  doth  its  office,  and  the  streams  of  life 
flow  unimpeded  ;  the  soul,  thus  pacified  from  inward  conten- 
tion, and  fed  with  the  river  of  God's  pleasure,  enjoys  a 
health  and  strength,  a  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding, 
and  a  joy  which  the  world  can  neither  give  nor  take  away. 

These  and  many  other  rewards,  whereof  the  Scriptures 
contain  the  constant  promise,  are  ever  addressing  the  feel- 
ings and  interests  of  man,  in  order  to  win  him  over  to  be  a 
freeman  and  denizen  of  the  divine  government :  and,  as  he 
enters  himself  with  heart  and  hand  to  the  duties  of  the  same, 
these  spiritual  rewards  grow  apace,  and  he  feels  himself 
more  and  more  emancipated  from  the  bondage  of  all  other 
laws  and  customs  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of 
God.  It  feels  with  his  soul  as  when  a  slave  escapes  from 
his  stripes  and  weary  toils  unto  his  rightful  liberty  ;  or  a 
free  man  of  this  land  escapes  from  the  spies  of  police,  the 
inquisitions  of  prefects,  the  passports  of  men  in  power,  and 
the  thousand  other  degradations  with  which  foreign  nations 
are  impeded  and  perplexed.  There  needeth  no  one  to  point 
out  the  new  happiness  which  he  possesseth.  Nature  speaks 
within:  he  is  as  man  should  be:  he  feeleth  his  state:  he 
useth  it:  he  rejoiceth  in  it.  So  doth  the  soul  under  divine 
government,  compared  with  which  the  best  human  adminis- 
tration of  law,  and  the  most  sweetly  regulated  intercourse 
of  social  life,  is  a  masterful  rule  and  a  degrading  servitude. 

Nor  are  there  wanting,  upon  the  other  hand,  many  foul 
degradations  and  cleaving  curses  to  disturb  the  mind  and 
wreck  the  peace  of  him  who  keeps  aloof  from  this  Goshen 
of  the  soul,  which  none  of  these  plagues  afflicts. 

The  accidents  of  life  come  upon  him  like  an  armed  man 
upon  his  sleeping  foe.  He  has  no  consolation  when  the 
sight  of  his  eyes  is  taken  from  him  with  a  stroke,  when  the 


148  OF  JUDGMENT  TO^COME. 

beauty  of  his  he'alth  doth  fail,  or  when  disaster  hath  smitten 
the  fouF  corners  of  his  house ;  but  he  feeleth  like  a  disman- 
tled ship  upon  the  troubled  waters,  or  like  a  desolate  wreck 
upon  the  naked  shore.  And  though  the  outward  estate  of 
ungodly  men  should  be  prosperous,  they  are  ever  liable  to 
be  scorched  and  consumed  within  the  soul  by  many  fires. 
The  fever  of  passion,  the  rage  of  appetite,  the  heat  of  riot 
and  intemperance,  the  ardour  of  unregulated  love,  the  glow 
of  indignation  and  the  burning  of  revenge,  and  the  other  fu- 
ries of  unregenerate  nature  are  ever  waiting  an  occasion  to 
set  the  breast  in  a  flame.  And  anon,  like  those  unhappy 
regions  of  the  earth  which  alternately  are  invaded  by  the 
pestilent  Siroc  of  the  South  and  the  biting  blasts  of  the  North, 
the  souls  of  such  ungodly  mt  n  are  liable  to  as  many  inva- 
sions of  an  opposite  kind.  Disappointment  of  fond  hope, 
defeat  of  strong  desire,  weariness  of  pleasure,  the  coldness 
of  malice  and  hatred,  the  cruelty  of  wit  and  satire,  and  the 
indifference  which  every  earthly  good  oft  tasted  begets— 
these,  like  scornful  and  deriding  demons,  lie  in  wait  at  the 
extremes  and  issues  of  all  their  eager  pursuits,  to  reward 
them  with  mockery  and  cold  disdain  for  yielding  such  will- 
ing obedience.  To  these  outward  and  inward  grievances, 
to  which  they  doom  themselves  that  know  not  God,  must 
be  added  many  fears  and  many  intrusions  from  the  world 
around : — the  fear  that  fortune  may  desert  those  channels 
^vhich  now  with  full  tide  she  filleih,  and  leave  us  naked  and 
waste — the  fear  that  our  hypocrisies  may  be  detected,  and 
our  concealments  disclosed  to  the  eye  of  public  scorn  or  le- 
gal justice — the  fear  of  death,  which  will  not  be  parried,  but 
aye  makes  head  again  with  every  sickness ; — the  intrusion 
of  social  customs  upon  our  domestic  liberty — the  intrusion 
of  fashionable  follies  upon  our  own  good  sense — the  intrusion 
of  rivals  upon  our  beloved  path — the  intrusion  of  another's 
rights  upon  our  rights,  and  the  legal  contentions  to  which 
this  giveth  rise — these,  with  many  other  fears  and  intrusions 
which  it  were  tedious  to  enumerate,  are  ever  trespassing 
upon  that  mind  which  is  not  placed  under  the  regimen  of 
God : — which  is  the  only  regimen  that  arms  the  soul  and 
body  at  all  points  to  meet  its  disaster,  and  gives  it  to  dwell 
in  a  land  from  the  border  of  which  these  invaders  are 
scared  away  as  the  frights  and  terrors  of  darkness  are  scared 
from  the  borders  of  light. 

It  doth  therefore  appear,  that  this  government , of  God, 
whose  unseen  rewards  we  are  about  to  disclose,  is  patron- 
ized, during  the  whole  of  human  life,  by  all  the  watchmen 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME..  149 

and  guardians  of  cur  spiritual  welfare  ;  and  that  the  adverse 
government  of  the  world,  whose  unseen  miseries  we  are  also 
about  to  disclose,  hath  many  warnings  of  an  unhappy  mind 
and  an  uneasy  condition,  to  remove  men  away  from  the  evil 
star  under  which  they  pass  their  lives.  These  goods  and 
ills  with  which  the  soul  is  visited,  according  to  the  choice  it 
makes,  are  the  only  instruments  which  God  has  employed  in 
order  to  make  way  for  his  revealed  law.  He  hath  not  en- 
deavoured to  work  upon  men  by  the  high  places  and  emolu- 
ments of  the  earth  ;  nor  bribed  their  senses,  like  the  God  of 
Mahomet,  with  indulgence  here  and  higher  indulgences  here- 
after ;  nor  ministered  to  vanity  or  pride  or  ambition  or  any 
of  the  inordinate  affections  with  which  the  world  tempts  the 
nature  of  man.  Riches  and  possessions  and  beauty  and  plea- 
sure are  not  proffered  by  him  as  the  rewards  of  obedience, 
which  he  requires  in  the  frown  of  every  thing  that  nature 
loves,  and  in  the  eclipse  of  every  thing  in  which  the  world 
glories. 

Hence  it  cometh  to  pass,  that  between  the  peaceful,  spirit- 
ual rewards  of  religion,  and  the  outward  ambitious  rewards 
of  the  world,  there  is  waged  a  contention  for  the  heart  of 
man ;  and  a  division  takes  place  of  those  who  cleave  to  the 
divine  constitution  from  those  who  reject  it.  This  division 
supersedes  every  other  distinction  in  the  eye  of  God,  who 
is  concerned  chiefly  for  the  honour  of  that  institution  which 
he  hath  been  at  so  much  pains  to  reveal.  He  hath  made  an 
appeal  to  every  good  and  noble  principle  of  nature,  he  hath 
introduced  it  with  a  moral  grandeur  which  made  the  host  of 
heaven  to  admire,  at  a  sacrifice  whose  value  none  but  him- 
self doth  know,  and  he  has  sustained  it  with  every  advan- 
tage present  and  to  come :  and,  having  done  so  much,  he 
standeth  to  a  side  and  waiteth  the  determination  of  man. 
From  earliest  youth  to  latest  age  we  are  solicited  to  accept 
his  overtures  ;  our  former  delinquencies  are  offered  to  be 
cast  into  the  shade,  and  our  late  obedience  to  be  accepted, 
as  if  it  had  been  yielded  from  the  very  beginning  of  life.  It 
argues  in  the  heart  by  which  such  easy  and  advantageous 
offers  are  rejected,  a  callousness  and  deadness  to  the  voice 
of  God,  in  lieu  of  which,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  any 
attainments  in  knowledge,  reputation,  or  morals  will  com- 
pensate. Our  Creator  is  not  served  with  the  powers  which 
he  gave,  nor  is  our  Preserver  acknowledged  for  the  blessings 
which  he  sent,  nor  our  Father  loved  in  return  for  that  love 
wherewith  he  hath  loved  us — our  King  is  held  at  nought — 
our  Redeemer  is  trampled  under  foot — heaven  is  not  sought — 

20 


150  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

hell  is  not  eschewed  :  meanwhile  the  world  is  courted,  the 
approbation  of  our  fellow  men  is  hunted  after,  every  fleeting 
pleasure  is  grasped  at,  and  every  phantom  of  hope  pursued  ; 
and,  though  life  be  as  unstable  as  the  morning  cloud,  it  is 
doated  on  and  preferred  to  all  which  God  is  able  to  bestow. 
In  sum,  God  in  his  most  gainly  attributes  arrayed,  is  rejected 
for  the  sake  of  this  world,  clothed  though  she  be  with  sick- 
ness and  sorrow  and  change,  and  every  symptom  of  speedy 
dissolution. 

It  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  such  wicked  contempt  of  all 
that  our  Creator  can  do  for  our  honour  and  advantage,  should 
draw  down  upon  our  heads  fatal  consequences  both  in  this 
life  and  that  which  is  to  come.  Either  it  argues  in  the  heart 
which  remains  impassive  under  such  overpowering  influ- 
ences, a  stupidity  or  obstinacy  which  cannot  long  co-exist 
with  the  finer  parts  of  human  nature,  or  it  argues  that  heart 
so  overmastered  b>  some  adverse  sinful  influence,  as  will 
likely  carry  it  headlong  into  evil  excesses.  Accordingly  it 
will  be  found  that  the  fruit  of  deliberately  rejecting  the  con- 
stitution of  God,  when  conscience  hath  presented  it  in  its 
proper  amiable  bearings,  is  either  to  sink  the  unfortunate 
party  out  of  the  region  of  the  noble  and  the  good  into  besotted 
callousness  and  brute-like  indiff'erence  to  honourable  avoca- 
tions, or  to  drive  him  into  the  arms  of  some  restless  prone 
ambition,  which  pricks  him  with  constant  discontent,  and 
urges  him  onward  without  control.  There  are,  indeed,  mul- 
titudes in  every  Christian  land  who  get  so  involved  with 
other  knowledge  and  with  other  affairs,  as  never  during  the 
whole  of  life  to  come  to  the  knowledge  or  the  feeling  of  its 
value  ;  these  do  not  pay  so  dear  a  forfeit  to  their  offended 
conscience  and  their  despised  God,  but  remain  under  the 
guidance  of  unrenewed  nature  and  the  sanction  of  worldly 
profit.  But  being  once  known  and  felt,  coolly  to  reject  this 
dispensation  of  law  and  grace  is  to  commit  a  suicide  upon  the 
highest  faculties  of  our  nature  and  the  highest  hopes  of  our 
being.  While  to  remain  in  voluntary  ignorance  of  so  sacred 
a  treasure  is  attended  with  a  barrenness  and  poverty  of  soul 
in  the  greater  number  ;  and  when  some  are  found  of  a  spon- 
taneous fertility,  they  are  incident  to  many  a  chilling  and 
hostile  invasion,  unrelieved  by  any  of  that  resource  and  con- 
solation which  the  smile  and  sustenance  of  their  good  father 
would  have  afforded  them.  I  know  how  boon  Nature  of 
her  ownself  hath  suggested  deeds  which  blaze  through  dark 
ages  like  stars  in  the  vault  of  night,  and  I  know  how  bounti- 
ful a  mother  she  is  still  in  bearing  sons  and  daughters  strong 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  151 

in  virtue  and  desirous  of  glory.  But  I  know  as  well  how 
"they  come  to  their  own,  and  their  own  acknowledge  them 
not."  Their  nobler  parts  disqualify  them  for  vulgar  sympa- 
thies, and  their  nobler  aims  draw  down  upon  them  vulgar 
fenvies  and  evil  speakings.  Power,  rude  power,  often  strips 
their  early  blossoms,  and  nips  in  the  bud  a  new  and  noble 
fruit  which  might  have  propagated  its  kind  over  the  fertile 
earth  ;  or  they  languish  for  want  of  kindred,  like  exiles  upon 
a  foreign  shore,  whose  noble  nature  the  barbarous  people  ne- 
ver know.  Their  devices  are  abortive,  or  drop  still-born,  or 
die  immature  for  want  of  fostering  care.  In  proof  of  which 
I  might  adduce  the  unhappy  sons  of  genius,  "fallen  on  evil 
days  and  evil  tongues  ;"  patriots  crushed  as  rebels  by  arbi- 
trary power ;  discoverers  treated  as  innovators  by  calculat- 
ing self-interest,  and  inventors,  whose  inventions  have  en- 
riched thousands,  perishing  themselves  of  cold  neglect.  I 
might  show  how  each  of  these  stood  in  need,  and  suffered  for 
the  want,  of  some  such  aid  and  encouragement  as  the  reveal- 
ed constitution  of  God,  which  is  a  prop  to  the  mind  when  all 
earthly  succour  hath  failed,  and  an  encouragement  to  good 
when  all  countenance  of  men  is  withdrawn.  I  might  show 
how  every  noble  endowment  of  nature,  and  every  form  of 
virtuous  pursuit  is  sustained  in  practice,  and  enhanced  in  our 
own  esteem  by  this  noble  law  of  liberty.  But  this  I  consider  to 
have  been  already  done  in  the  conclusion  of  the  preceding 
Part,  where  was  argued  out  its  application  to  the  noble  parts 
of  human  nature  ;  and  in  the  opening  of  this  Part,  where  was 
argued  out  its  tendency,  when  adopted,  to  exalt  and  purify 
our  conduct.  Now,  therefore,  I  would  turn  from  the  indi- 
vidual, and  show  how  this  our  constitution  of  divine  govern- 
ment would  operate  to  the  welfare  of  society  at  large. 

This  is  a  wide  and  difficult  field,  but  one  which  by  good 
management  may  be  brought  within  bounds,  and  be  made  to 
exhibit  in  a  most  triumphant  way  the  excellence  of  the  divine 
constitution.  The  well-being  of  civil  society  is  afflicted  chiefly 
with  two  evils — the  inactivity  of  some  of  her  members,  and 
the  over  activity  of  others — the  stupor  of  one  part,  and  the 
over  excitement  of  another — sluggishness  and  discontent. 
In  pursuing  onwards  its  slow  course  to  perfection,  the  politi- 
cal or  civil  state  of  man  between  these  two  evils  is  like  a  ves- 
sel which  lags  in  her  course  from  an  excess  of  burden,  or  is 
driven  out  of  it  by  an  excess  of  wind  and  sail.  There  is  a 
nice  adjustment  between  the  lethargy  of  the  great  masses  of 
society  which  hold  back,  and  the  active  restless  spirits  which 
move  its  condition  forward.  The  one. of  these,  this  constitu- 


Idfe  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COMJG, 

tion  of  which  we  treat,  would  stimulate  into  life,  while  it  re*- 
pressed  the  other  into  moderation  ;  and  would  thus  bring 
out  a  broader,  more  secure  impulse  towards  excellence  over 
the  parts  of  the  political  constitution. 

The  greater  number  of  almost  every  state  are  sunk  into  a 
mere  animal  being,  consuming  food, 'propagating  their  kind, la- 
bouringjthe  earth,  manufacturing  its  commodities  into  various 
shapes,  and  transporting  them  from  place  to  place.  Few  of 
whom  remember  that  they  are  descended  from  the  skies  and 
instinct  with  ethereal  being,  or  make  account  of  their  great 
Father  in  the  heavens  and  make  arrangements  for  returning 
to  him  at  length.  Narrow  life  spanneth  their  hopes  and  ex- 
pectations, the  impure  earth  yieldeth  them  all  their  joy  ; 
their  common  intercourse  is  in  idle  talk,  vain  parade,  vulgar 
jest,  brutal  excess,  and  savage  sports.  They  thirst  not  after 
immortality,  they  live  not  for  things  above,  they  meditate 
not  on  things  believed  ;  there  is  no  eternity  in  their  thoughts, 
no  control  over  their  nature,  save  for  the  convenience  or  by 
the  compulsion  of  society,  no  energy  of  their  own  accord  af- 
ter perfection,  no  grandeur  of  character,  no  godlike  deeds,  no 
everlasting  honour  or  renown. 

God  doth  know  I  would  not  misrepresent  my  fellow-crea- 
tures whom  his  hand  hath  formed  in  a  common  mould,  or 
rudely  discover  the  nakedness  of  their  condition  ;  but  it 
irks  the  heart  to  contemplate  the  deep  beds  of  degradation 
into  which  the  masses  and  multitudes  of  mankind  are  found 
for  want  of  the  discipline  wrought  upon  the  heart  by  this 
constitution,  which  alone  availeth  to  produce  virtue,  magna- 
nimity, peace,  and  all  the  finer  fruits  and  conditions  of  the 
soul.  I  know  not  what  fearful  misgivings  upon  the  sanity 
of  human  nature  come  over  my  mind  when  I  behold  the 
condition  of  unregenerate  men,  while  I  feel  assured  that 
there  is  in  the  religion  disseminated  abroad  a  power  and 
faculty  to  raise  them  to  the  highest  attainments  of  reflective 
and  hopeful  creatures.  I  feel  as  if  the  better  part  of  man 
were  writhing,  like  the  camp  of  Israel  when  bitten  of  fiery 
serpents,  under  a  deforming  deadly  disease,  for  which  the 
specific,  a  thousand  times  approved,  was  brought  before^ 
them  to  their  very  hand ;  but  through  obstinacy,  through  a 
very  love  of  misery  and  death,  the  infatuated  people  perish- 
ed from  present  happiness  and  future  hope. 

Who  can  feel  otherwise  when  he  looks  upon  the  most  nu- 
merous class  in  every  land,  sunk  into  a  brute-like  content- 
ment with  food  and  raiment,  the  pasture  and  the  housing  of 
their    separate    conditions  ?     Unreasoning,  unenlightened, 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  153 

they  live  upon  mere    animal  gratifications,  drudging  with 
cattle  their  weary  life,  or  fulfilling   in    mechanical  employ- 
ments those  offices  which  the  five  mechanical  powers  cannot 
be  perfected  to  perform.     They  drudge,  they  refresh  them- 
selves for  further  drudgery.  They  sleep,  and  wake  to  drud- 
gery again.  Oh  !  it  is  unsightly  to  behold  the  immortal  soul  of 
man  born  and  bred  up  to  toil,  toiling  hard  through  wearisome 
years,  untutored  in  truth,  unfed  from  the  fountain  of  intelli- 
gence, ignorant  of  the  great  salvation,  and  unsanctified  by  the 
Holy  One,  descending  into  the  grave  at  length,  of  God  and  of. 
man  all  unknowing  and  unknown.    And,  if  possible,  to  sink 
their  condition  still  lower,  in  this  death  of  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  faculties  of  nature,  all  the  animal  and  brutal  passions 
come  alive,  run  loose,  and  at  times  stir  into  fearful  commotion 
the  quiescence  of  their  being.   Their  holy  days  are  days  of  dis- 
sipation, their  cups  crowned  with  licentious  and  blasphemous 
talk,  their  raptures  intoxication  and  brutal  excess.     To  take 
my  instance  at  home,  I  could  weep  for  the  condition  of  this 
class,  even  in  England,  though  it  be  the  land  of  brave  and 
of  free  men,  the  bulwark  of  religion  in  the  latter  times,  and 
that  hath   long  been  the  refuge  and  asylum  of  the  perse- 
cuted stranger.     By  the  very  excess  of  their  free  and  man- 
ly spirit,  and  the  want  of  the  fear  of  God,  which  is  the  only 
fear  that   can  control   the   minds  of  English  people,  it  hath 
come  to  pass,   that  they  willingly  degrade  themselves  into 
excesses  into  which  foreign  nations  are  not  brought  by  all 
their  slavery.     Our  fairs  are  scenes  of  iniquity  scandalous  to 
be  looked  upon,    our  intemperance  is  proverbial  over  the 
world,  our  prize-fights  a  cruel  game  elsewhere  never  play- 
ed at,  our  forgeries,  our  thefts,  our  murders  not  surpassed,  if 
equalled,  in  the  most  barbarous  lands.     The  innocent  sports 
of  our  villages,  for  which  weary  labour  was  wont  to  relax 
himself,  the  cheer  and  contentment  which  blessed  the   inte- 
rior of    our    cottages,  and    the    plenty    and  beauty  which 
bloomed  around   their  walls,  the  home-bred   comfort  and 
cleanliness,  with  all  the    Arcadian  features  of  old  English 
life,  live  no  longer,  save  ^in  the  tales  of  ancestry.     Hard 
and  incessant  labour,  broken  with  fierce  gleams  of  jollity  and 
debauch,  poorhouse  dependance  and   poorhouse   discontent, 
nocturnal  adventures  of  the  poacher  and  the  smuggler  and  the 
depredator,  sabbath  breakings,  sabbath  sports,  and   sabbath 
dissipations  are  now  too  much  the  characteristics  of  our  city 
and  our  rustic  people. 

And  yet  our  people  are  a  noble  stock  which  with  pruning 
will  bear  you  excellent  fruit,  they  are  a  rich  soil  that  will 


154  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

grow  you  either  a  plentiful  harvest  of  corn  or  a  rank  crop  of 
weeds,  according  to  the  husbandry  you  give  them.  In  the 
olden  time,  that  husbandry  was  by  no  means  ot  the  social 
principle,  which  then  developed  sweetly  its  pouer  over  hu- 
man nature.  The  softening  intercourse  of  ranks,  the  mutual 
respect  between  high  and  low,  the  devotion  of  servant  to 
master,  and  the  patriarchal  affection  of  masters  in  return  ; 
the  hearty  intercourse  between  landlord  and  tenant,  the  open 
hearted  hospitality  of  the  great  families,  and  their  dwelling 
like  angels  of  mercy  and  justice  within  their  domains,  serv- 
ing out  their  stated  doles  to  the  poor  of  the  country  round, 
ministering  justice  and  upholding  popular  rights  in  county 
court,  and  national  assembly; — this  culture  of  the  social 
principle  in  all  its  roots  and  branches  did  soften  the  manners 
and  cultivate  the  affections  of  the  people,  and  produce  that 
effervescence  of  happy  scenes,  for  which  Old  England  was 
renowned.  But  alas  !  it  liveth  now  only  in  the  tales  of  an- 
cestry, and  the  vestiges  of  times  gone  by.  And  there  is  left 
a  blank  in  the  hearts  of  the  lower  classes  of  men  which  pro- 
fane j  anglers  about  liberty  would  fill  up  with  a  spirit  of  stur- 
dy and  sullen  independence,  with  claims  of  right  and  con- 
tempt of  polite  civilities  towards  superiors,  of  dutiful  offices 
towards  those  in  authority,  and  with  every  dissociating  prin- 
ciple. These  political  feelings  which  they  are  disseminating, 
are  but  a  poor  substitute  for  the  ancient  social  feeling,  and 
can  never  be  made  by  their  single  strength  to  regenerate  a 
people.  Truly  they  do  but  babble  about  liberty  and  refor- 
mation, who  think  that  the  depressed  condition  of  a  people 
can  be  elevated  to  its  proper  place  by  political  means  alone. 
The  perfection  of  civil  polity  is  to  defend,  not  to  guide  man- 
kind ;  to  defend  each  man  from  the  intrusion  of  another  upon 
his  natural  liberties,  not  to  guide  him  how  to  act  within  that 
sacred  sphere.  Let  us  have,  and,  God  be  thanked  !  we  have, 
such  a  constitution  of  civil  law  as  will  protect  every  man 
from  the  invasion  of  another.  Give  me  now  to  boot  some- 
thing to  guide  each  freeman  of  the  realm  in  the  exercise  of 
his  free  and  unmolested  powers. — Give  me  something  which 
may,  among  the  various  possibilities  of  action  within  his 
range,  guide  him  to  that  which  will  enhance  his  own  and  the 
common  weal. — Give  me  distinctions  between  good  and  ill, 
motives  to  the  one  and  repressions  from  the  other,  checks 
against  selfishness  in  small  matters  such  as  the  law  planteth 
in  great  ones ;  light  to  the  conscience  where  it  is  perplexed, 
sustenance  where  it  is  over  tempted,  calls  to  virtue,  consola- 
tion to  virtue  unrewarded, — Give  me  buoyancy  to  nature, 


Of  judgment  to  come.  155 

aye  in  a  sinking  state,  a  balance  for  airy  words,  and  a  mea- 
sure for  invisible  and  unexpressed  thought. 

These  things  it  is  not  in  the  nature  of  any  political  consti- 
tution to  yield,  and  for  lack  of  this  gift  the  creation  groaneth 
and  is  in  bondage,  and  human  nature  falleth  into  such  deep 
and  dark  passes  of  misery.  The  French  and  the  German 
have  their  recourse  in  sentiment,  and  some  classes  of  our 
own  island  have  leaned  to  the  sanrie  broken  reed.  But  that 
sentiment  to  which  they  have  betaken  themselves  is  a  spuri- 
ous bastard,  not  the  true  offspring, 'of  the  heart  ;  nor  once  to 
be  compared  to  our  own  ancient  homely  honesty,  whereof  the 
good  and  happy  fruits  have  been  delineated  above.  There  is 
a  truth  in  sentiment,  and  a  loveliness  in  refined  sentiment, 
but  the  sentiment  broached  of  late  abroad,  and  thence  im- 
ported into  some  circles  of  rank  and  literature  at  home,  is 
generally  a  substitute  for  sound  and  heart-felt  principle,  a 
law  for  the  lips  only,  and  even  to  words  an  indulgent  law  j 
and  it  has  no  more  connexion  in  the  practice  of  its  votaries, 
with  purity  and  chastity  and  undefiled  honour,  or  even  with 
common  honesty  between  man  and  man,  than  the  six  books 
of  Euclid  have  ;  and  it  never  impinges  even  upon  the  ear  of 
the  lower  classes,  of  whose  renovation  we  at  present  treat, 
and  therefore  we  dismiss  it  without  further  consideration. 

The  age  of  sentiment  hath  nearly  passed  away,  and  edu- 
cation is  now  cried  up  as  the  great  restorative  of  the  sunken 
people.  But  education,  or  the  capacity  of  acquiring  know- 
ledge being  given,  will  avail  little  of  itself,  unless  you  have 
respect  to  the  knowledge  which  is  obtained.  By  education 
you  give  the  power  of  informing  the  mind  and  the  consci- 
ence, you  do  as  it  were  couch  the  eye  of  the  mind  ;  you 
must  moreover  teach  it  to  recognise  the  good  from  the  evil 
in  the  new  fields  of  vision,  refraining  it  from  looking  upon 
scenes  of  evil  and  temptation,  and  guiding  it  towards  those 
which  are  good.  By  education  you  open  the  way  to  all  kinds 
of  lettered  company,  and  furnivsh  the  power  of  conversing 
with  those  who,  being  dead,  still  speak  by  printed  books. 
But  it  is  well  known  that  books  are,  like  the  writers  of  books, 
good  and  evil,  and  may  corrupt  as  well  as  reform  those  who 
have  to  do  with  them.  Therefore  it  is  not  less  dangerous 
to  set  a  youth  with  money  in  his  pocket  loose  and  at  large 
upon  this  city,^  than  to  set  a  man  with  the  power  of  reading 
loose  upon  the  great  republic  of  letters.  By  reason  of  the 
new  power  he  hath  acquired  he  needeth  new  discretion  in 
using  it — the  tree  of  knowledge  still  bearing  both  good  and 
evil.     While,   therefore,  with  the  education  of  letters  we 


15©       ^  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

have  no  quarrel,  but  do,  on  the  other  hand,  commend  it  as  a 
great  and  powerful  endowment,  we  altogether  reject  its 
claim  to  be  a  restorative  to  the  lower  classes  of  men.  It  doth 
only  put  restoration  within  their  reach,  and  is  therefore  to 
be  hailed  by  every  well-wisher  of  his  kind  ;  but  the  restora- 
tion must  come  from  some  other  quarter,  and  depend  upon 
the  knowledge  they  acquire  and  the  purposes  to  which  they 
apply  it. 

The  constitution  described  in  the  two  last  divisions  of  this 
argument,  is  alone  equal  to  this  restoration  of  the  lower 
classes  from  their  brutal  apathy  to  what  is  noble,  and  their 
brutal  excess  in  what  is  sensual.     For,  as  we  have  seen,  it 
addresseth  every  good  and  generous  feeling  within  the  breast, 
and  prompts  it  into  activity  by  every  inducement.     Then 
from  the  personal  it  proceeds  to  watch  over  the  social  prin- 
ciple, regulating  all  the  relationships  of  life  with  tenderness 
and  affection ;    planting   love    in   families,    mutual  respect 
among  the  ranks  of  life,  and  disinterested  attention  to  the 
well-being  of  all.    It  awakens  spiritual  tastes,  and  refreshes 
the  mind  with  divine  sentiments,  and  introduceth  to  virtu- 
ous company.     It  casteth  a  restraint  upon  every  wicked  pro- 
pensity, and  putteth  a  divine  economy  through  all  one's  af- 
fairs ;  and  by  all  these  influences  it  must  necessarily  work 
over  a  community  the  most  complete  of  all  reformations. 
For  what  is  a  community  but  a  number  of  fathers,  mothers, 
brothers  and  sisters,  masters  and  servants,  governors  and 
governed  ?  and  if  each  of  these  is  held  to  his  office  by  a  wise 
and  powerful  authority,  made  to  love  it  and  delight  in  it, 
what  is  wanting  to  the  well-being  of  that  community  ?    Re- 
ligion would  also  bring  back  with  it  all  the  social  and  gene- 
rous virtues  which  once  dwelt  within  the  land,  and  restore 
the  efflorescence  of  happiness  which  hath  almost  faded  away. 
It  would  wipe  away  the  disgustful  scenes  to  which  the  un- 
repressed  freedom  of  our  people  hurries  them.    Sobriety  and 
economy  and  domestic  peace  it  would  plant  in  the  families 
of  the  most  dejected.     The  industry  of  parents  would  thrive 
under  the  blessing  of  God  and  the  expectation  of  everlasting 
rest.     The  children  would  be  trained  in  the  fear  of  God,  the 
young  men  would  be  strong  in  self-command,  the  young 
maidens  clothed  in  modesty  and  chastity  and  a  divine  grace- 
fulness.    Servants  would  be  faithful  and  masters  kind  ;  and 
within  every  cottage  of  the  land  would  be  realized  that  bower 
of  innocency  and  paradise  of  religious  content,  which  our 
sorely-tried,  and,  alas  !  too  yielding  poet  hath  sung  in  his 
'-'•  Cottar's  Saturday  Night  >"   thereby  redeeming  half  his 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  157 

frailties,  and  making  the  cause  of  religion  his  debtor — a  debt, 
it  seems  to  me,  which  the  religious  have  little  thought  of  in 
their  persecution  of  his  name,  and  cruel  exposure  of  all  his 
faults. 

I  consider  the  process  by  which  it  dignifies  all  the  parts 
of  human  nature,  and  all  the  performances  of  human  life,  to 
have  been  already  explained  in  the  conclusion  of  the  last  and 
the  introduction  to  this  division  of  our  argument ;  but  that 
this  most  important  topic  of  our  discourse  may  stand  justi- 
fied before  experience  no  less  than  perception,  I  hold  myself 
to  show  by  three  several  instances,  upon  the  largest,  broadest 
scale,  the  perfect  sufficiency  of  the  divine  constitution  to  re- 
generate the  most  benighted  and  the  most  brutalized  of  man- 
kind. 

Our  first  instance  is  taken  from  the  origin  and  first  planta- 
tion of  our  faith  in  the  most  luxurious  and  vicious  quarters 
of  the  earth — Rome  and  Greece,  and  Jerusalem  and  the 
Lesser  Asia.  Where  it  broke  the  bands  of  personal  inte- 
rest, and  made  men  generous  to  the  highest  pitch  of  selling 
all  they  had,  and  pouring  the  price  at  the  apostle's  feet ;  laid 
low  and  levelled  the  dear  distinctions  of  rank  and  place, 
bringing  the  richest  with  the  poorest,  the  highest  with  the 
lowest,  to  be  served  at  the  same  tables  and  supported  out  of 
the  same  common  purse.  It  nerved  afresh  the  Corinthian 
dissolved  in  pleasure,  humbled  the  towering  pride  of  the 
Athenian, tamed  the  boldness  of  the  warlike  Roman,  straight- 
ened the  crooked  ways  of  the  cunning  Asiatic,  opened  the 
selfish  heart  of  the  vain-glorious  Jew,  and  knocked  off  the 
fetters  of  superstitious  idolatry  from  them  all,  unsealing  the 
darkened  eye  and  restoring  the  abused  mind  of  religion  ;  in 
doing  which  it  peacefully  set  fraud  and  opposition  at  naught, 
until  it  fairly  overran  the  nations,  and  seated  itself  in  the  high 
places  of  their  hearts,  of  their  lives,  and  of  their  laws. 

Our  second  instance  is  taken  from  the  Reformation,  when 
the  divine  constitution  smote  asunder  religious  and  civil 
bonds,  and  feet  many  nations  free,  as  it  were,  at  a  single 
stride.  In  little  more  than  the  lifetime  of  a  man  restoring 
England,  Scotland,  Holland,  half  of  Germany,  and  the  Scan- 
dinavian nations,  to  a  free  use  of  the  faculty  of  thought, 
which  ten  centuries  of  cunning  arts  had  been  employed  to 
shackle.  The  nations  shook  themselves  as  from  a  sleep  ;  the 
barbarous,  ferocious  people,  took  on  piety  and  virtue,  and  the 
sacred  sense  of  human  rights.  The  Hollander  roused  him 
from  his  torpid  life  amongst  his  many  marshes,  and  beat  the 
chivalry  of  haughty  Spain  from  his  shores j  defeating  the  con- 

21 


158  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

queror  of  a  new  world.  The  German  burgher  braved  his 
emperor,  though  followed  by  half  the  nations,  and  won  back 
his  religious  rights.  The  English,  under  their  virgin  queen, 
offered  up  the  Armada,  most  glorious  of  navies,  a  sacrifice 
to  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  And  of  my  beloved  native  country — 
whose  sufferings  for  more  than  a  long  century  do  place  her 
in  a  station  of  honour  second  only  to  the  VValdenses  in  the 
militant  church,  and  whose  martyrs  (alas  !  that  they  should 
have  been  to  Episcopal  pride  and  Protestant  intolerance  !) 
will  rank  on  the  same  file  with  those  of  Lyons  and  Alexan- 
dria in  the  primitive  church — of  her  regeneration  by  the  power 
of  religion  I  can  hardly  trust  myself  to  speak.  Before  that 
blessed  sera  she  had  no  arts  but  the  art  of  war  j  no  philosophy  ; 
no  literature,  save  her  songs  of  love  and  chivalry  ;  and  little 
government  of  law.  She  was  torn  and  mangled  with  intes- 
tine feuds,  enslaved  to  arbitrary  or  aristocratic  power,  in  vas- 
salage or  in  turbulence.  Her  soil  niggard,  her  climate  stern, 
a  desert  land  of  misty  lakes  and  hoary  mountains.  Yet,  no 
sooner  did  the  breath  of  truth  from  the  living  oracles  of  God 
breathe  over  her,  than  the  wilderness  and  the  solitary  plain 
became  glad,  and  the  desert  rejoiced  and  blossomed  like  the 
rose.  The  high-tempered  soul  of  the  nation — the  *'  ingenimn 
perfervidum  ScotoruirC^ — which  had  roused  itself  heretofore 
to  resist  invasions  of  her  sacred  soil  and  spoil  the  invader's 
border,  or  to  rear  the  front  of  rebellion  and  unloose  warfare 
upon  herself,  did  now  arise  for  the  cause  of  religion  and 
liberty — for  the  rights  of  God  and  the  rights  of  man.  And, 
oh  !  what  a  demonstration  of  magnanimity  we  made.  The 
pastoral  vales,  and  upland  heaths,  which  of  old  were  made 
melodious  to  the  shepherd's  lute,  now  rung  responsive  to 
the  glory  of  God,  attuned  from  the  hearts  of  his  persecuted 
saints.  The  blood  of  martyrs  mingled  with  our  running 
brooks  ;  their  hallowed  bones  now  moulder  in  peace  within 
their  silent  tombs,  which  are  dressed  by  the  reverential  hands 
of  the  pious  and  patriotic  people.  And  their  blood  did  not 
cry  in  vain  to  heaven  for  vengeance.  Their  persecutors  were 
despoiled ;  the  guilty  race  of  kings  were  made  vagabonds 
upon  the  earth.  The  church  arose  in  her  purity  like  a  bride 
decked  for  the  bridegroom  ;  religious  principles  chose  to  re- 
side within  the  troubled  land  ;  and  they  brought  moral  vir- 
tues in  their  train,  and  begot  a  national  character  for  know- 
ledge and  industry  and  enterprise,  for  every  domestic  and 
public  virtue,  which  maketh  her  children  ever  an  acceptable 
people  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  159 

Our  third  instance  of  the  power  dwelling  in  the  divine 
constitution  to  renovate  a  people  and  make  them  great  and 
good,  is  taken  from  the  present  times,  and  may  be  seen  in 
almost  every  missionary  station  over  the  earth.  These,  the 
apostles,  the  true  dignitaries  of  the  modern  church,  have  ad- 
dressed their  undertaking  to  the  lowest  and  most  degraded 
of  their  species^  the  West-Indian  slave,  who  is  bought  and 
sold  and  fed  for  labour,  and  differeth  only  from  the  ox  in 
that  he  is. not  stalled  for  the  butcher's  knife  ;  the  Greenland- 
ers,  in  whose  misnamed  region  the  green  of  nature  doth 
rarely  bloom  ;  the  treacherous  islanders  of  the  South  Seas  ; 
the  Hottentots,  whose  name  hath  grown  proverbial  as  the 
extreme  limit  of  ignorance. — I  speak  to  the  dispassioned  and 
well-informed,  not  to  self-sufficient  bigots  who  will  not  stoop 
to  peruse  the  narratives  of  such  low-bred  men,  nor  degrade 
themselves  to  turn  the  eye  from  magazines  of  wit  and  fashion 
to  the  magazines  of  methodism  and  religion, — I  speak  to 
honest-hearted  men  who  love  the  improvement  of  their  spe- 
cies however  promoted,  and  crave  of  their  justice  to  ac- 
knowledge how  the  constitution  of  divine  truth,  when  adopt- 
ed by  these  rudest  people,  hath  brought  out  the  thinking  and 
the  feeling  man  from  the  human  animal,  as  pure  metal  is 
brought  out  of  the  earthy  ore,  or  pearly  honey  droppeth 
from  the  waxen  comb  ;  how  the  souls  of  the  converts  become 
peopled  with  a  host  of  new  thoughts  and  affections,  and  the 
missionary  village  with  a  hive  of  industrious,  moral,  and 
peaceful  citizens,  dwelling  in  the  surrounding  wastes  of  ido- 
latry and  wickedness,  like  the  Tabernacle  of  God  in  the  wil- 
derness of  sin.  Also  how  the  missionaries  have  come  into 
contact  with  the  high  places  of  power,  and  reformed  the 
palace  of  the  king,  and  pacified  the  spirit  of  warriors,  and 
made  bloodshed  to  cease.  Also  how,  in  our  colonies,  the 
planters,  whom  long  residence  among  slaves  had  dispossess- 
ed of  British  spirit,  have  come  at  length  to  acknowledge  the 
humble  missionary,  and  honour  him  for  the  sake  of  the  good 
fruits  of  his  labours.  Thus,  as  in  the  first  ages,  this  consti- 
tution which  God  hath  given  to  the  earth  is  still  continuing 
to  advance  its  subjects  into  a  new  sphere  of  being,  from  the 
animal  to  the  spiritual,  to  disarm  the  opposition  of  its  foes 
and  to  triumph  peaceably  over  the  earth. 

That  religion,  pure  and  undefiled,  if  brought  into  the  same 
contact  with  the  ignorant  and  degraded  classes  of  our  country, 
would  work  the  same  humanizing  and  dignifying  effects,, we 
do  therefore  consider  as  established  by  both  methods  of  proof, 
from  the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  the  frequent  experience  of 


160  or  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 

the  fact.  In  those  three  instances  there  is  every  degree  and 
form  of  human  society  which  the  world  hath  seen.  The  re- 
fined luxury  of  the  classical,  the  feudal  wildness  of  the  Gothic, 
the  darkness  and  ferocity  of  the  savage,  all  brought  under, 
pacified  and  ameliorated  by  the  spiritual  arts  of  the  divine 
government.  And  if  there  remain  any  one  so  unreasonable 
as  still  to  misgive  of  its  prevailing  equally  against  the 
abounding  ignorance  and  iniquity  of  our  lower  classes,  I 
have  the  very  f^ct  to  appeal  to,  the  successful  experiment  in 
the  hands  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists.  They  have  grappled 
with  the  most  irreducible  case  of  the  problem,  and  fairly  re- 
solved it.  Not  in  England — perhaps  not  in  the  wide  world — 
was  there  a  more  ignorant,  dissipated,  and  ferocious  people 
than  the  colliers  of  the  West  and  the  North,  to  whom  the 
Wesleyans  addressed  the  Gospel  of  Christ  with  the  most  dis- 
tinguished success  ;  in  every  case  working  a  reformation 
upon  every  individual  who  joined  himself  to  their  commu- 
nion. And  not  only  amongst  them  have  they  succeeded,  but 
amongst  the  lower  classes,  in  general,  through  all  the  varied 
conditions  of  their  life,  and  all  the  varied  aspecfe  of  their  ig- 
norance. 

I  cannot  dismiss  this  topic  of  society's  degraded  and  qui- 
escent members,  to  pass  to  the  next  of  society's  over-active 
and  destructive  members,  without  one  short  digression  to  the 
means  of  ameliorating  the  condition  of  men,  which  are  now 
engaging  the  speculation  and  endeavour  of  various  well-in- 
formed and  well-intentioned  classes  of  the  community.  Al- 
most all  the  high  genius  and  enterprize  of  this  age,  at  home 
and  abroad,  calculate  that  these  effects,  which  we  claim  for 
divine  government,  will  result  from  political  reformations  ; 
and  they  have  drawn  after  them  the  sympathies  of  by  far  the 
most  disinterested  part  of  our  nation  ;  with  whom  the  watch- 
word of  domestic  and  foreign  renovation  is,  Well-balanced 
and  well-administered  political  institutions.  Now,  from  all  I 
can  understand  of  the  nature  of  civil  polity,  it  will  stretch  no 
farther  than  to  protect  and  defend  us  in  our  several  rights  ; 
and,  when  it  would  enter  farther  in  to  take  an  oversight  of 
our  private,  our  domestic,  our  personal  conduct,  it  then  be- 
comes tyranny.  Why,  then,  should  there  be  any  dispute  be- 
tween us  and  the  politicians  ? — or  why  should  they  thus 
scowl  on  us  and  we  look  scowling  back  on  them  ?  Let  them 
mind  the  out  works  and  defences  of  each  man's  encampment, 
and  guard  the  craft  of  priests  and  the  power  of  governors 
from  coming  in  to  molest  it ;  we  will,  in  the  mean  time,  set 
all  things  in  order  within  the  poor  man's  cottage,  which  their 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  161 

good  endeavours  have  made  to  be  revered  as  "  the  poor 
man's  castle."  Let  them  keep  the  "  king  from  daring  to  en- 
ter it ;"  we  -will  endeavour  to  keep  the  devil  from  daring  to 
enter  it.  And  in  our  curn  we  will  do  them  as  good  a  service 
as  they  have  done  us  ;  for  we  will  touch  the  lethargic  bo- 
soms of  the  sluggish  people  with  the  Promethean  spark  of 
religion,  which  persecution  and  power  cannot  quench,  and 
which  will  light  and  feed  the  lamp  of  freedom  when  need  be. 
We  will  give  them  a  people  fearful  of  no  one  save  God,  arm- 
ed in  religion  and  virtue,  which  alone  are  incorruptible  by 
bribe,  wreckless  of  the  power,  and  more  terrible  to  the  mea- 
sures of  wicked  governors  than  an  army  with  banners : — 
a  people  who  will  stand  for  liberty  on  the  earth,  and  shape 
themselves  for  glory  in  heaven.  And  we  will  satisfy 
the  legislators  no  less  than  the  reformers  ;  we  will  give  them 
a  people  obedient  to  wholesome  laws,  and  examples  of  peace- 
able conduct  to  all  around,  but  as  refractory  against  conscien- 
tious bonds  or  arbitrary  measures  as  the  Puritans  and  Cove- 
nanters were  of  old.  And  we  will  satisfy  the  economists  no 
less  ;  for  we  will  give  them  a  people  industrious  upon  prin- 
ciple, independent  upon  principle,  and  who  will  refrain  their 
natural  instincts  rather  than  cover  a  country  with  pauperism 
and  with  misery. 

Why,  then,  should  these  several  schools  of  national  well- 
being  separate  from  the  Christians,  and  aim  their  darts  as- 
kance at  the  integrity  of  our  intentions  and  the  usefulness  of 
our  work  ?  They  have  instruments,  and  we  have  an  instru- 
ment. Our  instrument  is  for  laying  the  foundation,  theirs 
is  for  ornamenting  the  structure.  They  work  upon  the  out- 
side, to  keep  oft'  enemies  at  a  distance  ;  we  work  within  the 
house  at  home,  to  keep  the  peace,  to  sustain  the  affections, 
and  to  promote  industry.  When  dissension  cometh  to  a 
height,  we  call  in  their  powerful  aid  ;  while  all  is  doing  well 
they  have  no  occasion  and  should  not  wish  to  interfere. 
Therefore,  I  say,  let  there  be  peace  and  fraternity  and  mu- 
tual esteem  amongst  us,  if  we  honestly  sit  upon  the  common 
weal. 

For  the  enemy  taketh  much  profit  from  our  disunion,  to 
injure  us  both.  You  are  not  the  noble  men  your  fathers  were 
when  the  foundation  of  English  freedom  was  laid.  Then 
you  were  men  of  might,  because  you  feared  the  living  God 
and  did  your  endeavour  to  serve  him.  Now  you  are  men 
soured  in  spirit  and  often  stained  in  reputation,  in  your  zeal 
for  liberty  trampling  often  upon  the  virtues  and  decencies  of 
life.  Those  have  intruded  themselves  among  you,  and  got 
the  reins  of  the  people,  whom  your  ancestors  would  not  have 


162  OT  JUDGMENT    TO  COME. 

allowed  to  tie  the  latchet  of  their  shoe,  no,  not  to  be  the  por- 
ter of  the  most  outward  gate  of  their  domains  ;  and  your 
whole  cause,  however  good  it  be  in  itself,  hath  fallen  into 
contempt,  from  the  vagrant  band  of  advocates  who  now  beard 
you  in  the  assemblies  where  you  anciently  reigned.  And 
we,  we  Christians,  have  suffered  no  less  from  the  dismem- 
berment ;  we  have  lost  the  manly  regard  of  our  fathers  for 
liberty  and  good  government,  and  crouched  into  slavish  sen- 
timents of  passive  obedience,  as  if  we  were  stooping  the 
neck  of  our  understanding,  in  order  that  they  might  by-and- 
by  wreathe  the  chain  upon  our  bodies,  or  make  us  the  in- 
strument of  wreathing  it  on  others.  Oh,  how  we  are  fallen 
from  the  days  of  the  glorious  Reformation  !  There  is  no 
magnanimous  assertion  of  principles  ;  there  is  a  base  deser- 
tion of  those  who  assert  them.  All  the  glory  of  the  church 
is  gone  ;  and  I  wonder  not  that  the  free-minded  laymen  hate 
and  spurn  the  slavishness  of  our  sentiments. 

But,  by  the  spirits  of  our  great  fathers  in  church  and 
state  !  are  we  never  again  to  see  the  reunion  of  religious 
and  free-born  men  ?  Is  there  to  be  no  city  of  refuge,  no 
home,  no  fellowship  of  kindred  for  one  who  dares  to  enter- 
tain within  his  breast  these  two  noblest  sentiments — freedom 
and  religion  ?  Is  he  aye  to  be  thus  an  outcast  from  the  pious, 
who  neglect  all  political  administrations,  except  when  they 
touch  sectarian  pride,  or  invade  churchman's  prerogative  ? 
Is  he  aye  to  be  an  outcast  from  the  generous  favourers  of 
their  country's  weal,  who  have  foregone,  in  a  great  degree, 
the  noble  virtues  and  Christian  graces  of  the  old  English 
patriarchs  of  church  and  state  ;  and  taken  in  their  private 
character  more  of  the  manners  and  libertinism  of  Continen- 
tal revolutionists,  and  have  little  left  of  the  ancient  blood  of 
these  islanders  ? 

But,  if  England  would  make  another  step  in  advance,  she 
must  look  to  the  strength  in  which  she  made  her  former 
steps  ;  and  if  foreign  nations  would  possess  the  blessings  of 
England,  they  must  look  to  the  same  era  of  her  history,  when 
her  liberty  struggled  into  light.  It  will  be  found  that  reli- 
gion set  the  work  in  motion,  and  that  religious  men  bore  the 
brunt  of  the  labour.  The  Puritans  and  the  Covenanters 
were  the  fathers  of  liberty  ;  the  cavaliers  and  the  politicians 
would  have  been  its  death.  I  find  it  so  also  among  the 
Huguenots  of  France,  in  whose  massacre  the  star  of  liberty 
set  to  that  ill-fated  land,  and  cannot  rise  again  for  want  of 
such  men  as  Conde  and  Coligne.  It  was  so  also  in  the  Uni- 
ted Provinces  of  Holland,  and  every  country  in  which  liber- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  163 

ty  hath  had  any  seat.     Nevertheless,  every  religious  man 
must  wish  well  to  the  present  shaking  of  the  nations,  as 
likely  to  open  passages  for  the  light  of  truth,  which  hereto- 
fore the  craft  of  priests  and  the  power  of  absolute  tyrants ^--^^"^^ 
have  dihgently  excluded.  I  pray  to  heaven  constantly,  night,^     ^ft^^.* 
and  morning,  that  he  would  raise  up  in  this  day  men  of  the  .    ># 

ancient  mould,  who  couldjoin  in  their  ancient  wedlock  these  ^  i, 

two  helps  meet  for  each  other,  which  are  in  this  age  divorced     i<9>^ 
—religion  and  liberty.     As  ii  goes  at  present,  a  man  who  ^ 

cherishes  these  two  affections  within  his  breast  hardly  know-  '  . 

eth  whither  to  betake  himself  j — not  to  the  pious,  for  they 
have  forsworn  all  interest  or  regard  in  civil  affairs  ;  not  to 
the  schools  of  politicians,  who  with  almost  one  consent  have 
cast  off  the  manly  virtues  and  Christian  graces  of  the  old 
English  reformers.  But,  by  the  spirits  of  our  fathers  !  I  ask 
again,  are  their  children  never  to  see  the  reunion  of  religious 
and  free-born  men  ?  Have  our  hearts  waxed  narrow  that 
they  cannot  contain  both  of  these  noble  affections  ?  or,  hath 
God  removed  his  grace  from  us — from  those  who  consult 
for  freedom,  in  order  to  punish  their  idolatry  of  liberty,  and 
demonstrate  into  what  degradation  of  party  serving  and  self- 
seeking  this  boasted  liberty  will  bring  men,  when  they  loose 
it  from  the  fear  of  God,  who  is  the  only  patron  of  equity 
and  good  government.  But,  why,  O  Lord !  dost  thou  re- 
move thy  light  from  thine  own  people,  the  pious  of  the^land  ? 
Is  it  that  they  may  know  thou  art  the  God  of  wisdom  no 
less  than  of  zeal,  who  requirest  the  worship  of  the  mind  no 
less  than  of  the  heart.  Then  do  thou  after  thine  ancient 
loving>kindness  send  forth  amongst  them  a  spirit  of  power 
and  of  a  sound  mind,  that  they  may  consult  for  the  public 
welfare  of  this  thine  ancient  realm,  and  infuse  their  pure 
principles  into  both  its  civil  and  religious  concerns. 

It  seems  to  my  mind,  likewise,  when  I  compare  the  wri» 
tings  of  these  patriarchs  of  church  and  state  with  the  irre^ 
verent  and  fiery  speculations  of  modern  politicians,  and  the 
monotonous,  unimaginative  dogmatizings  of  modern  saints, 
that  the  soul  of  this  country  hath  suffered  loss,  and  become 
sterile  from  the  disunion  of  these  two  spouses,  religion  and 
liberty  ;  and  that  the  vigour  of  political  and  religious 
thoughts  hath  declined  away.  There  is  no  nourishment  to  a 
righteous  breast  in  the  one  class,  and  in  the  other  there  is  no 
nourishment  to  a  manly  breast ;  and  until  harmony  between 
these  two  be  joined,  we  never  shall  enjoy  such  an  offspring 
of  mind  as  formerly  was  produced  in  this  land  to  beget  its 
likeness  in  every  heart.     When  I  read  the  "  Speech  for  the 


i64  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

Liberty  of  Unlicensed  Printing,"  the  most  powerful,  it  seems 
to  me,  of  all  compositions,  ancient  or  modern,  and  over 
against  it  set  the  "  Descent  of  Liberty,  a  Mask,"  and  such 
like  works  of  modern  reformers — when  I  read  the  "  Letters 
for  Toleration,"  o^  the  Treatises  on  Government  of  Locke 
and  Sydney,  and  over  against  them  set  the  Defences  and 
Apologies  of  moderns  persecuted  for  conscience'  sake,  (or, 
as  they  phrase  it,  for  blasphemy's  sake),  I  seem  to  be  con- 
versing with  creatures  of  a  different  sphere  in  creation.  Nor 
do  I  feel  the  element  less  altered  upon  me  when  I  pass  from 
the  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity"  to  any  modern  treatises  or  eulo- 
gies upon  the  church,  or  from  the  ''Saint's  Rest"  to  any 
modern  work  of  practical  piety.  The  grandeur  of  religious 
subjects  is  fallen  ;  the  piety  of  political  subjects  is  altogether 
deceased.  We  are  mere  pigmies  in  the  moral  applications 
of  intellect.  The  discrimination  of  the  age  is  led  astray  or 
fallen  asleep,  and  maketh  more  account  of  the  most  petty 
novice  or  student  in  art  or  science,  of  the  interpreter  of  an 
Egyptian  hieroglyphic,  or  the  discoverer  of  a  new  Oasis  in 
the  great  desert  of  Zaara,  than  it  would,  I  verily  believe,  of 
the  greatest  sage  or  moralist,  if  there  was  any  chance  of  such 
a  phenomenon  arising,  in  this  physical  age. 

On  every  account,.therefore,  of  the  common  weal,  both 
for  awakening  a  spirit  in  the  lethargic  part  of  the  people,  and 
of  purifying  that  yeasty  spirit  which  at  present  exists  for  re- 
formation, and  overruling  it  to  good  and  wholesome  ends  ; 
also  for  regenerating  the  taste  of  both  the  political  and  reli- 
gious ;  I  present  the  constitution  of  divine  government, 
which  hath  approved  itself  in  all  ages  so  efficacious.  And 
now  I  return  from  this  digression,  to  consider  how  it  regu- 
lates the  fiery  parts  of  the  social  constitution,  which  are  ever 
labouring  to  set  it  in  a  blaze. 

In  meditating  upon  those  revolutions  which  disturb  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  civil  society,  and  bring  on  seasons 
of  anarchy  or  listlessness,  during  which  some  upstart  tyrant 
wreathes  the  chain  of  slavery  round  the  neck  of  a  gallant  na- 
tion ;  they  seem  to  me  to  spring  first  of  all  out  of  that  brutal 
indifference  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  from  which  we 
have  already  shown  the  way  of  deliverance.  They  lie 
grovelling  like  cattle  in  their  thoughtless  and  ignorant  and 
improvident  condition,  of  which  the  governing  powers  are 
constantly  taking  advantage  to  aggrandize  themselves,  until 
at  length  a  season  arrives  when  the  animal  nature  can  en- 
dure no  longer  its  deprivations,  and  arises  under  a  blind  in- 
stinct of  self-deliverance  to  remedy  its  aggravated  and  long- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  155 

endured  wrongs.  Meanwhile  some  proud,  ambitious,  dis- 
contented spirits  above,  or  some  great  and  noble  spirits  be- 
low who  shared  in  the  dejection  and  misery  of  their  condi- 
tion, suffering  in  a  stern  meditation  of  revenge,  arise  in  the 
hour  of  convulsion,  and  give  to  this  terrible  strength  and 
ungovernable  irritation  of  the  mass  a  savage  direction,  which 
tears  up  human  society  almost  by  the  very  roots.  We  have 
already  pointed  to  the  cure  of  that  brutal  apathy  of  the  peo- 
ple which  is  the  root  of  the  mischief,  and  showed  the  means 
by  which  their  soul  may  be  kept  enlightened  and  speculative, 
their  heart  tender  and  strong,  their  wills  under  regency  of 
God  and  conscience.  A  people  so  disciplined  are  not  only 
invincible  by  the  brute  force  of  tyranny,  as  every  blow  of  the 
blessed  Reformation  proveth  ;  but  they  are  sharp- sighted  to 
the  rules  of  policy,  and  not  easily  won  upon  by  the  false  re- 
presentations of  faction.  There  is  a  divine  contentment  with 
their  condition,  and  a  divine  endeavour  to  fill  it  well,  which 
will  not  be  disturbed  by  any  vain  theories  ;  but,  when  dis- 
turbed in  very  truth,  then  woe  to  him  upon  whom  the 
wounded  conscience  of  the  people  dealeth  its  blows,  and  the 
vial  of  the  wrath  of  God,  for  his  saints'  sakes,  descendeth 
from  above. 

Now  if  we  can  show  in  our  system  as  good  a  cure  for  the 
factious  and  restless  spirits  which  are  ever  generated  in  the 
bosom  of  a  community,  and  ever  irritating  its  peace  under 
one  disguise  or  another,  sometimes  of  declaration  for  civil 
rights,  sometimes  of  enthusiasm  for  new  schemes  of  refor- 
mation, and  at  other  times  of  fanaticism  for  religion,  we  shall 
have  secured  the  common  weal  upon  two  sides ;  first, 
strengthening  the  constitution  itself,  and,  secondly,  removing 
the  local  inflammations  and  disorders  with  which  it  is  trou- 
bled ;  and  we  shall  have  reason  to  think  this  argument  for 
the  divine  constitution,  upon  political  grounds^  brought  to  a 
happy  issue.  This  we  shall  do  by  patiently  examining  into 
the  causes  which  breed  such  discontented  and  irritable  spirits, 
who  are  always  endeavouring  to  lead  the  people  astray. 

Now  it  has  been  my  lot  in  mingling  with  the  various  clas- 
ses of  this  suffering  world,  to  find  one  most  fertile  source  of 
this  disturbance  and  discontent,  in  the  disagreement  between 
the  capacities  of  a  man,  and  the  condition  to  which  Provi- 
dence seemeth  to  have  fixed  him  down.  Some,  with  most 
capacious  minds,  I  have  seen  forced  to  grind  like  Sampson 
in  the  mill  of  a  haughty  and  imperious  lord  ;  others,  with 
great  and  generous  hearts,  oppressed  by  cold  poverty,  or 
forced  to  hang  upon  common  charity  ;  the  ambition  of  others 

22 


166  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

I  have  seen  land-locked  and  idle  ;  the  intellect  of  others  eX" 
hausted  upon  rustic  inventions  ;  the  wit  of  others  upon  win- 
ter-evening tales  ;  beauty  blushing  unseen,  modesty  uncared 
for  ;  and  royal  virtues  held  in  no  repute  :  all  which  their 
ill-assorted  lots  did  cost  the  people  dear,  and  begat  most  in- 
digestible and  irritating  humours.  The  mind  seemed  as  in 
a  cage  of  confining  conditions,  within  whose  narrow  bounds 
it  spent  an  unprofitable  strength,  it  pined  like  a  proud  man 
in  prison,  or  raged  like  a  strong  man  in  fetters.  By  and  bye 
these  towering  faculties,  which  in  youth  made  such  efforts  to 
rise  into  their  proper  element,  growing  weary  of  the  vain  en- 
deavour, have  fallen  into  despair,  and  become  content  to 
think  and  feel  and  speak  and  act  like  the  multitude  around  ; 
or  else  they  have  become  deadly  and  revengeful,  sour  and 
sullen  towards  the  forms  of  life  which  did  impede  their  pro- 
gress, holding  a  constant  argument  and  living  in  a  constant 
warfare  against  the  good  institutions  of  men,  and  endeavour- 
ing their  little  ability  to  overthrow  them.  Thus  a  noble  and 
ethereal  spirit,  which  God  lighted  with  heavenly  fire  to  en- 
lighten others,  hath  been  quenched  by  the  noxious  vapours 
which  exhaled  from  its  neighbourhood,  or  hath  turned  into 
a  firebrand  to  set  the  earth  in  a  blaze.  This  is  a  great  evil 
under  the  sun,  and  the  most  constant  source  of  internal  trou- 
ble to  a  state  ;  it  is  a  gangrene,  which,  being  wide  spread, 
corrupts  the  whole  constitution. 

And  it  has  also  been  my  lot  to  see  it  so  spread,  to  live  and 
move  amongst  a  whole  people  infected  with  this  malady  of 
their  condition,  and  not  knowing  how  to  be  delivered  from 
it.  They  were  restless,  and  found  no  peace  in  the  bosom  of 
their  homes.  They  went  unrefreshed  by  the  rest  of  night  to 
their  hated  labours,  and  they  retired  from  them  only  to  mur- 
mur aloud;  they  looked  hard  upon  your  better  raiment; 
their  words  lost  the  soft  tones  of  kindness  and  respect,  and 
you  felt  as  in  an  enemy's  country,  or  amongst  the  people  of 
a  house  which  hated  the  house  of  your  fathers. 

These  inquietudes  of  the  soul  of  man,  and  of  the  ranks  of 
society,  with  their  several  allotments  in  the  field  of  human 
life,  are  to  a  reflecting  mind  almost  as  distressing  as  the  slug- 
gish, brute -like  contentment  with  the  food  and  raiment 
which  we  treated  of  above  ;  and  in  time  produce  those  awful 
convulsions  and  insurrections,  those  hot  and  fiery  contests, 
%yhich  society  makes  when,  unmoored  from  their  settlements, 
her  ranks  justle  and  crash  like  stately  vessels  in  a  storm. 

And  if  we  turn  to  see  how  society  fares  at  the  other  ex- 
treme ;  if  there  be  a  better  assortment  of  the  mind  to  its 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  16? 

place,  more"  contentment  of  the  ranks  with  their  several  sta- 
tions, and  if  what  contentment  there  is  do  rest  upon  nobler 
gratifications  than  those  which  we  deplored  in  humble  life  ; 
then,  from  all  we  can  see  and  learn  in  that  quarter,  things 
are  not  mended  much.  There  is  still  unrest  and  dispeace 
in  the  bosom  of  youth,  which  they  seek  to  allay  in  the  dissi- 
pations of  elevated  life.  They  conipete  for  the  eye  of  wo- 
man ;  they  compete  for  the  pink  of  fashion  ;  they  even  strive 
for  the  distinction  of  being  vulgar  and  coarse  ;  they  compete 
for  places  in  the  senate-house  ;  they  range  the  world  over 
for  sights  and  shows :  thus  by  the  farness  and  wildness  of 
their  flights,  through  the  amplitude  of  their  range,  display- 
ing that  same  restlessness  in  their  present  estate,  which  the 
humbler  youth  does  by  his  flutterings  around  his  narrow 
confines.  And  when  this  misdirected  energy  of  soul  be- 
comes exhausted,  they  sink  down  into  a  repose  often  as  un- 
intellectual  and  unspiritual  as  that  we  lamented  among  the 
labourers  of  life.  For  I  reckon  the  vanity-fair  of  a  Sabbath 
in  the  Park,  or  the  entertainment  of  a  route,  or  the  triumph 
of  an  election,  or  the  morality  of  a  fox-chase  or  a  horse-race, 
to  be  grounds  of  contentment,  to  an  intellectual  immortal 
being,  as  disgraceful  and  pitiful  as  the  glory  of  an  ale-house, 
or  the  enjoyment  of  a  fair,  or  the  grand  entertainment  of  a 
human  fight. 

Now  if  I  settle  myself  between  these  two  extremes  of  hu- 
manity, and  take  an  observation  of  the  middle  orders  of  men, 
then  this  I  often  find — that  the  souls  of  many  have  died  a 
natural  death  among  the  common-places  and  every  day  en- 
gagements of  the  world — they  rise  and  eat,  and  labour  and 
go  to  sleep,  and  rise  again  to  the  smne  unintellectual  round  ; 
and  so  they  see  the  bustling  faces  of  friends,  prate  of  news,  and 
now  and  then  enjoy  some  social  cheer — they  care  and  know  for 
little  besides.  This  also  I  find,  that  others  are  restless  after 
gain,  and  vexed  from  morning  to  night  with  endeavours  to 
obtain  it  and  to  keep  it  j  and,  having  succeeded,  grow  mighty 
and  wax  ambitious,  seeking  titles  and  honours  ;  which,  hav- 
ing got,  they  become  insufferably  important ;  while  I  find 
many  youths  sweating  and  sweltering  in  the  midst  of  labour, 
and  for  entertainment  to  their  souls,  seeking  mirth  and  jol- 
lity, and  other  dangerous  levities. 

This  dissatisfaction  of  the  mind  with  its  surrounding  con- 
ditions, and  these  wretched  refuges  of  contentment  into 
which  it  settles  down  at  length,  are,  it  seems  to  me,  the  chief 
causes  of  society's  troubles  ;  which  are  not  to  be  effectually 
removed,  unless  you  can  find  employment  for  this  excessive 


168  OF  JtTD GHENT  TO  COME, 

activity,  which  is  wasted  in  restless  schemes,  and  solace  for 
this  bitterness  of  the  soul  which  these  unsuccessful  schemes 
engender.  This  I  shall  discover  at  large  out  of  those  divine 
'revelations,  whose  excellence  we  endeavour  to  disclose. 

The  example  of  our  Saviour,  born  in  meanest  estate,  and 
showing  the  glory  of  the  father  through  weeds  of  poverty 
and  in  scenes  of  contempt,  must  take  off  from  all  his  disci- 
ples the  edge  and  bitterness  of  envy,  and  teach  them  that  the 
capacities  of  the  most  highly  endowed  mind  have  room  and 
verge  enough  within  the  most  mechanical  callings  ;  while 
the  same  example  exhibits  and  enforces  the  true  way  to  dig- 
nify the  callings  and  the  characters  of  men,  and  enable  them 
to  sit  down  with  a  high  and  noble  contentment,  which  every 
thing  may  invade,  but  nothing  shall  prevail  against. 

In  order  to  know  how  little  station  is  necessary  to  dignity 
and  usefulness,  Christians  have  only  to  remark  the  words 
which  the  angel  of  the  Lord's  birth  spake  to  the  shepherds 
who  kept  the  night-watch  over  their  flocks — "  To  you  is  born 
this  day  in  the  city  of  David,  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the 
Lord."  He  to  whom  prophets  had  been  pointing  since  the 
fall  of  man  as  the  great  hope  of  all  the  earth  ;  whom,  in  the 
sore  distresses  that  threatened  all  the  interests  of  righteous- 
ness and  piety,  the  seers  had  descried  afar  off,  and  called  up- 
on the  hopeless  people  to  take  heart  and  be  glad,  for  a  light 
was  coming  to  enlighten  the  Gentiles  and  glorify  the  people 
of  Israel — hath  at  length  arrived,  and  the  messenger  of  the 
Lord  descends  to  announce  it  to  the  earth,  and  guide  these 
peasantry  to  the  place  of  his  birth.  "  In  Bethlehem,  the  city 
of  David,  ye  shall  find  him  ;  and  by  this  sign  ye  shall  recog- 
nize him — ye  shall  find  the  babe  wrapped  in  swaddling- 
clothes  lying  in  a  manger."  It  was  sufficient  to  denote  him 
that  he  was  surely  the  worst  accommodated  babe  that  night 
in  Bethlehem — I  might  say  in  the  civilized  world  : — "  The 
meanest,  that  is  he."  Why  was  the  Saviour  of  the  world 
born  and  reared  so  meanly  ?  He  whose  endowments  were 
uncommunicated  and  incommunicable,hiswork  most  honour- 
able and  pure  ;  why  was  he  born  amongst  the  common  herd 
of  men — the  vile  and  vulgar  mob,  as  they  are  termed  and 
treated  ?  The  counsellor  who  had  within  him  that  boundless 
ocean  of  wisdom,  whereof  all  that  hath  inhered  in  man  is  but 
the  bountiful  overflowings — why  was  He  not  in  high  seats  of 
learning  to  train  the  youth,  or  in  seats  of  awful  justice  to  rule 
with  equity  the  people  ?  The  great  and  mighty  Lord,  who 
had  within  him  that  almighty  power  and  strength,  whereof 
the  pillars  of  the  universe  are  but  a  temporary  scaffolding 


,  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  169 

reared  by  a  word  ofhis  mouth,  and  by  a  word  of  his  mouth 
to  be  overturned  again — Why  was  he  not  placed  in  the  seat 
of  universal  empire,  to  do  his  sovereign  will  among  the  sons 
of  men,  and  reduce  them  to  happiness  and  good  order  ? 
These  questions  may  well  be  asked  upon  beholding  him 
swathed  up  amongst  the  cribs  and  provender  of  cattle  ; 
hedged  in,  his  life  long,  with  mean  and  mechanical  condi- 
tions, possessed  of  no  power,  and  honoured  by  no  office, 
pinched  in  liberty  of  speech  and  action,  the  few  years  he  was 
allowed  to  live.  Yet  it  pleased  the  Lord  that  in  him  should 
all  fulness  dwell.  Such  was  the  being  and  such  was  the  con- 
dition into  which  the  Being  was  born,  whom  all  Christians 
call  their  Master,  and  to  whom  all  subjects  of  the  divine 
constitution  endeavour  to  conform  their  sentiments  and  life. 

Now,  if  Christ,  having  such  poor  instruments  to  work  his 
work  withal,  so  little  power  and  rank  and  wealth,  did  yet 
bear  with  meekness  the  imprisonment  of  his  faculties,  and 
look  without  envy  upon  the  toweriijg  height  of  mean  and 
despicable  men — finding  within  his  bosom  a  resting-place  of 
peace,  in  the  world  a  constant  field  of  actr/e  well-doing,  in 
the  bosom  of  God  a  constant  welcome,  and  in  the  prospects 
after  his  heavy  office  was  well  discharged  an  everlasting  feast 
of  hope, — may  not  we  mortal,  erring  men,  be  glad  to  fulfil 
the  will  of  God  in  whatever  condition  he  may  please  to  place 
us,  and  win  to  ourselves  out  of  the  saddest  aspects  and  in 
the  humblest  allotments  of  human  life,  not  only  endurance 
and  contentment,  but  the  high  engagements  of  a  most  useful 
life  ?  Can  poverty  or  bonds  imprison  the  faculties  of  the  re- 
ligious soul — can  ruin  seize  the  conditions  which  Christ's 
most  precious  blood  hath  purchased  for  his  people — can  ad- 
versity benight  the  reconciled  countenance  of  God  ?  Cannot 
devotion  soar  as  free  from  dungeons  as  from  gorgeous  tem- 
ples ?  and  will  not  the  mite  of  misery  be  as  welcome  as  the 
costly  offerings  of  grandeur  ?  Nay,  verily,  but  the  very  hu- 
mility and  poverty  of  his  people  are  their  commendation  to 
God,  their  necessities  are  their  passport,  their  groans  arc 
their  petitions,  and  their  afflictions  are  their  arguments. 

When,  therefore,  there  are  found,  in  abject  poverty,  spirits 
of  passing  excellence  struggling  with  their  depression,  and 
unable  to  extricate  their  genius  or  their  enterprise  from  petty 
embarrassments,  from  which  they  think  a  little  more  of 
wealth  or  a  little  more  of  station  would  have  set  them 
free  without  a  struggle,  let  them  turn  into  that  vocation 
to  which  Christ  invoketh  men,  and  apply  their  faculties 
to  those  uses  to  which  Christ  applied  his  -p  then  shall  their 


170  OF  JUDGMENT   TO  COME. 

soul  be  as  tranquil,  though  overflowed  with  many  waters, 
as  was  his,  and  their  end  as  triumphant  over  this  paltry 
world,  and  their  spirit  as  liberally  enlarged  into  glorious 
liberty.  And  though  there  be  on  every  side  of  us  grovel- 
ling spirits  sleeping  in  the  bosom  of  every  advantage,  dis- 
regarding the  fairest  occasions  of  honour  and  of  good,  and 
when  they  do  intermeddle  in  affairs,  spoiling  every  thing 
they  undertake  with  the  stain  of  their  own  meanness  ;  what 
is  there  in  this  to  stir  our  envy  ?  in  the  eye  of  reason  they 
are  degraded  and  disgraceful,  however  prominent  in  the  eye 
of  silly  people  ;  in  the  eye  of  God  they  are  condemned  for 
profligate  squanderers  of  his  good  and  gracious  gifts  ;  and 
they  are  ripening  their- blossoms  for  such  a  wintry  blast  as 
shall  sear  and  waste  and  desolate  them  for  ever.  Poor  men ! 
their  case  is  pitiful,  passing  pitiful.  Be  gracious  to  them, 
be  full  of  prayer  for  them  ;  for  they  pass  like  the  flower  of 
the  grass,  which  flourisheth  in  the  morning  and  in  the  even- 
ing is  cut  down,  and  the  place  which  now  knows  them  shall 
soon  know  them  no  more.  Oh  !  it  chaseth  away  for  ever  all 
repinings  from  the  Christian's  soul,  to  behold  the  discre- 
pancy between  the  Saviour's  divine  capacities  and  the  Sa- 
viour's humble  lot ;  and  it  teacheth  him  resignation  to  his 
fortunes,  and  contentment  in  the  midst  of  them,  not  out  of  a 
slothful  and  indolent  spirit,  but  out  of  the  conviction  that 
from  the  worst  fortune  a  life  of  the  greatest  activity  and 
gainfulness  may  be  made  to  arise.  The  sun  never  ariseth 
so  glorious  as  when  he  divideth  the  thick  douds  of  the  morn- 
ing, and  looketh  forth  from  his  pavilion  of  thick  waters 
round  about  him  ;  nor  does  man  ever  bespeak  so  much  his 
spiritual  strength,  or  show  so  like  to  God,  as  when  he  re- 
joiceth  with  a  serene  joy  over  darkness  and  trouble,  and 
gathers  sweet  refreshment  to  his  glory  from  the  clouds  which 
overcast  him. 

It  is  not  sluggish  contentment  I  advocate  ;  I  would  rather 
see  a  man  wrestle  against  his  lot  than  miserably  succumb, 
rise  rampant  and  shake  from  him  the  thongs  and  whips  that 
scourge  him,  take  arms  and  perish  like  a  man,  than  whine 
and  weep  under  inglorious  bonds.  It  is  victory  and  triumph, 
no  pitiable  debasement,  I  contend  for  ;  and  while  I  shut  out 
material  tools  to  express  your  mind  and  will  before  the  be- 
holding world,  I  hand  you  spiritual  tools  to  express  it  with, 
before  all-beholding  God,  your  own  conscious  soul,  and  the 
innumerable  host  of  heaven.  If  you  have  a  capacious  mind, 
but  no  books  nor  school  to  train  it  in,  nor  theatre  of  high 
debate  to  display  it  before,  then  be  it  between  you  and  God, 
and  those  whom  he  hath  placed  about  you.     Be  the  book  of 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  171 

God  your  hand-book,  and  the  universe  of  God  your  eye- 
book,  and  the  providence  of  God  your  book  of  problems  to 
be  resolved ;  and  be  your  own  soul,  your  family,  your 
friends,  every  ear  which  listens — the  theatre  before  which  to 
demonstrate  your  knowledge  ;  this  is  amplitude  enough.  Is 
your  heart  generous  and  pitiful,  but  forced  by  niggard  for- 
tune to  confine  itself  within  narrow  bounds  of  well-doing  ? 
then  there  is  the  generosity  of  feeling  and  of  utterance  ; 
there  is  a  kind  word  and  a  good  counsel,  which  the  wretched 
need  as  much,  but  seldomer  receive,  than  an  alms.  Feel  no 
envy  j  that  is  generous  :  indulge  no  malice  ;  that  is  gracious  : 
study  no  revenge ;  that  is  bountiful :  it  was  thus  that  Christ 
testified  that  passing  generosity  of  spirit  which  hath  madfe 
him  the  boast  of  manhood.  I  suppose  he  gave  less,  because 
he  had  less  to  give,  than  many  amongst  ourselves ;  but  he 
gave  a  volume  of  wise  counsel,  and  bequeathed  a  treasure  of 
good  feeling  which  is  now  esteemed  the  most  precious  jewel 
this  world  contains  within  its  orb.  Do  you  say  your  noble 
ambitions  are  landlocked  and  idle  by  reason  of  hopelessness- 
is  there  no  field  for  ambition  in  being  a  wise,  good,  and  glo- 
rious creature,  after  God's  own  image  renewed  I  is  there  no 
hope  of  conquering  sin,  misfortune,  death,  and  the  grav^^ 
of  rising  to  honour,  glory,  and  immortality  ?  till  there  be 
midnight  darkness  in  these  avenues  and  outlets  of  the  soul, 
tell  me  not  of  hopelessness,  of  landlocked  and  idle  ambition. 
Doth  your  wit  rust  like  a  sword  hanging  in  its  sheath  ? 
then,  though  I  have  no  outlet  for  that  species  of  wit  which 
they  call  droll  and  comical,  and  which  finds  its  feast  in  farces 
and  caricatures,  in  obscuring  and  distorting  truth — yet  for 
that  true  wit  which  lies  in  exposing  affectation  and  vice,  and 
unveiling  the  subterfuges  of  self-deceived  nature,  and  hold- 
ing the  true  mirror  up  to  man  that  he  may  know  himself, 
and  knowing  himself  be  ashamed — that  wit  which  lies  in 
dressing  truth  and  excellency  in  proper  images,  and  brings 
God  into  view  through  clouds  and  darkness,  that  we  may 
flee  to  his  mercy  and  forgiveness,  and  love  his  image — for 
such  wit  there  is  abundant  outlet ;  for  that  is  the  very  high- 
est office  which  a  Christian  can  perform  for  himself  or  his 
friend.  And  for  that  higher  vein  of  genius  which  seeks  its 
way  in  poetry  and  song — there  are  to  be  exhibited  all  the 
attributes  of  God  and  life  of  christian  virtue,  and  peace  and 
joy  in  believing,  and  everlasting  freedom  from  thraldom  and 
impediment. 

These,  these  are  the  proper  excursions  for  the  faculties  of 
man  into  the  provinces  of  God's  holy  nature  and  righteous 


il2  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

ways ;  these  console  the  spirit  that  delights  itself  therein,  and 
treat  it  with  a  feast  sweeter  than  honey  and  the  honeycomb, 
and  replenish  it  with  a  treasure  more  valuable  than  the  mines 
of  the  east.  And  these  regions  of  thought  and  activity  are 
open  as  the  gates  of  the  morning,  and  free  as  the  liberty  of 
thought  itself.  Rank  hath  no  preference  here  ;  fortune 
brings  no  accession  hither ;  a  sceptre  is  no  advancement ;  and 
a  library  of  learning  proves  often  altogether  cumbrous. 
Therefore  be  encouraged  to  put  forth  each  man  his  mind  and 
spirit  and  will,  in  these  highways  of  thought  and  business. 
And  the  Lord  as  ye  advance  will  open  wide  the  gates  of  liber- 
ty, until  at  length  death  shall  knock  off  the  fetters  of  the  mind, 
to  become  free  and  moveable  as  the  angels  of  God. 

I  wish  I  had  a  dwelling-place  in  every  bosom,  and  could 
converse  with  every  faculty  of  man,  that  I  had  an  ear  to  hear 
their  murmurings, their  sighings,  their  groanings  and  all  their 
secret  griefs  ;  and  I  wish  that  I  had  a  faculty  to  understand 
all  the  parts  and  kindly  offices  of  religion,  which  in  this  pre- 
sent age  seemeth  to  be  in  bonds  and  to  want  enlargement ; 
then  would  I  draw  near  to  every  repining,  grieving,  ham- 
pered faculty  of  every  spirit,  and  out  of  my  spiritual  guide  I 
would  sing  over  it  a  soft  and  soothing  strain,  sweetly  set  to 
its  melancholy  mood  and  aptly  fitted  to  its  present  infirmity, 
until  each  languishing  part  of  human  nature  should  be  re- 
freshed, and  peace  should  come,  and  blushing  health  arise, 
and  glowing  strength  spring  up  hastily,  and,  like  a  strong- 
man from  sleep,  or  a  giant  refreshed  with  wine,  the  whole 
soul  should  recover  a  divine  strength,  and  push  onwards  to 
perfection  heartily  and  happily  with  the  full  consent  of  all 
her  powers.  But  no  man  can  get  such  a  faculty  of  drawing 
the  distressed  parts  of  fallen  nature  into  an  acquaintance  with 
the  healing,  strengthening  medicines  of  the  Gospel  of  peace. 
Yet  is  there  one  to  whom  this  happy  function  appertaineth, 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whose  unction  is  to  the  spirit  what 
light  and  food  and  balmy  sleep  are  to  the  body  of  man  ;  and 
whose  unspeakable  comfort  and  unwearied  strength  we  may 
every  one  partake  of,  seeing  God  longeth,  loveth  to  pour  it 
forth  more  affectionately  than  a  father  doth  to  give  bread  to 
his  starving  child.  Then,  then  arise,  arise,  ye  sons  of  depres- 
sion and  misfortune,  arise  from  your  lowly  beds,  arise  from 
your  sinful  conditions,  burst  asunder  the  confinements  of  a 
narrow  lot  ;  cease  from  brooding  griefs,  severe  complainings, 
and  every  disquieting  thought ;  join  fellov/ship  with  the  great 
comforter  of  this  afflicted  world,  even  the  Spirit  of  Truth, 
who  from  the  lowest  pass  of  misery'  will  raise  you  to  a 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  175 

height  of  heavenly  temper,  and  all  the  universe  shall  smile 
in  the  eye  of  your  recovered  joy,  and  the  most  discordant 
adversities  of  life  become  full  of  a  divine  wisdom  and  order* 

What  hath  the  meanest  cottager  to  fear,  what  the  most 
laborious  workman  to  complain  of,  when  possessed  of  this 
divine  companion,  who  shall  unravel  this  fitful  dream  of  ex- 
istence, and  show  it  to  be  a  dispensation  of  God  full  of  mer- 
cies and  of  comforts  ?  And  the  Scriptures  which  furnish  his 
cottage  shall  be  instead  of  palace  ornaments  and  noble  visi- 
tants, and  shall  furnish  a  better  code  to  guide  him  than  the 
formulary  of  any  court ;  and  his  joys  and  sorrows  awake  as 
deep  an  interest  in  the  mind  of  our  common  Father  as  those 
of  royalty ;  and  the  incidents  and  changes  and  catastrophes 
of  his  cottage  scenes  are  as  well  recorded  in  the  book  of 
God's  remembrance  as  the  transactions  of  an  empire  ;  and 
he  hath  the  faculty  of  extracting  honey  from  the  bitterest 
weed  in  his  humble  field  of  existence  ;  and  though  the  bed 
of  his  distress  may  be  dark,  lonely,  and  unattended,  the 
bosom  of  his  Redeemer  is  his  pillow,  and  the  shadow  of  his 
wings  his  covert ;  and  angels  that  have  not  fallen  beckon  him 
to  the  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens, 
where  is  fulness  of  joy  and  pleasures  for  evermore. 

Upon  these  unremoveable  foundations  the  divine  constir 
tution  placeth  the  contentment  of  every  rank,  high  and  low, 
and  into  these  undebarred  avenues  of  activity  it  calleth  the 
awakened  spirits  of  every  man.  There  is  room  enough  in 
all  vocations  for  the  display  of  every  natural  faculty  and  su- 
peradded grace,  and  in  every  vocation  hath  the  arch  enemy 
reared  up  a  fabric  of  delusion  against  the  Most  High ;  to 
overturn  which,  and  raze  it  to  the  foundation,  and  on  its 
ruins  erect  the  work  of  faith,  the  labour  of  love,  and  the  pa- 
tience of  hope,  is  work  and  honour  enough  for  the  longest 
lifetime  and  the  largest  faculties,  aided  and  directed  by  the 
Spirit  of  God. 

If  men  were  under  the  influence  of  these  principles,  which 
are  but  a  scantling  of  the  whole,  those  grievances  of  the  va- 
rious ranks  of  life,  which  we  set  forth  as  the  chief  irritation 
of  society,  would  cease.  The  miserable  man  of  whom  we 
spoke,  into  whose  enjoyment  discontent  hath  eaten  like  a 
canker,  and  who,  oppressed  with  evil  conditions,  hath  no 
more  nerve  for  life,  but  bitterly  makes  his  moan  to  the  ear 
of  solitude,  and  singeth  sadly  of  departed  hope  and  misera- 
ble fortune — to  him  the  Comforter  would  come  and  take 
him  into  his  kindly  embrace,  and  whisper  into  his  ear  soft- 
ening and  soothing  speeches,  telling  him  of  life  beyond  the 


174}  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

grave,  where  there  is  no  sighing  nor  weeping  nor  any  grief — 
of  a  Father  in  heaven  who  watcheth  over  him  by  night  and 
day — of  a  shepherd  that  will  feed  him  by  the  still  waters, 
and  of  things  unutterable  which  await  him  in  his  Father's 
house.  The  imprisoned  sympathies  of  the  woeful  man 
being  thus  enlarged  and  satisfied  out  of  the  abundance  of 
heavenly  food,  he  walks  abroad  satisfied  with  himself  and 
with  his  condition,  loving  his  brethren  of  men  whom  he 
lately  disreputed,  and  acting  stoutly  his  worthy  part  in  that 
bustling  scene  which  lately  thronged  upon  his  memory  a 
thousand  ancient  disappointments,  but  which  now  brightens 
with  a  thousand  hopes,  and  is  sweetened  with  a  thousand 
wholesome  uses. 

And  again,  that  brutal  man,  of  whom  we  told,  who  hath 
his  pleasure  in  sensual  and  riotous  scenes,  living  content 
with  mere  animal  gratification,  unreasonable,  unspiritual,  un- 
enlightened, drudging  with  cattle  his  weary  life,  feeding  him- 
self for  mere  drudgery,  and  caring  for  nothing  beyond — to 
him  the  Comforter  would  come,  and  teach  him  how  to  become 
a  man — a  son  of  immortality  ;  awaken  spiritual  tastes,  intro- 
duce him  to  spiritual  people,  make  him  a  husband  and  a 
father  from  being  a  regardless  mkn,  and  teach  him  to  keep 
at  home  instead  of  being  a  vagabond  upon  the  earth. 

And  again,  that  plodding  man,  whose  contentment  with 
the  daily  routine  of  business  we  blamed — and  that  scheming 
man,  whose  ambition  to  climb  through  wealth  to  place  and 
power,  we  set  forth — and  that  toiling  youth,  whose  misera- 
ble reliefs  and  refreshments  in  dangerous  gaieties  we  pitied — 
all  these  forms  of  active  man  the  Comforter  would  mightily 
improve  and  refine  ;  touching  the  spiritless  drudge  with  a 
wand  of  power  that  would  quicken  him  into  a  thoughtful 
and  a  spiritual  man,  and  draw  him  into  converse  with  God 
and  communion  with  heaven ;  teaching  the  schemer  to  scheme 
for  eternity,  and  making  him  ambitious  of  all  heavenly  accom- 
plishments ,  thrilling  the  soul  of  the  youth  with  love  for 
Christ  and  his  christian  vocation— enlivening  the  conscience 
of  all  to  a  thousand  new  perceptions  of  duty  and  usefulness, 
and  filling  the  soul  with  a  constant  fund  of  devotion  and 
peace. 

Finally,  those  of  high  birth  and  fortune,  who  pass  through 
a  vain,  hot,  unbridled  youth,  to  settle  down  into  a  manhood 
of  worldly  ambition  and  display,  this  divine  Comforter  would 
catch  and  timeously  defend  from  the  snare  of  fashion  and 
folly,  and  when  pleasure  sets  forth  her  most  delicious  baits 
and  treat  succeeded  treat  in  well-studied  succession,  when 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  175 

by  luxury  and  beauty  the  pulse  of  life  is  raised,  and  by  con- 
genial sentiment  and  song  the  heart  is  kept  in  unison  and  the 
fancy  dazzled  by  the  finest  creations  of  genius — all  to  win  fa- 
vour for  most  unholy  practices,  then,  in  that  most  trying 
moment,  the  guardian  Spirit  of  God  would  spread  the  sober 
shades  of  truth  over  the  tempting  scene,  and  raise  up  a 
brighter  creation  out  of  the  promises  of  God  to  out-tempt 
the  tempter,  and  he  would  fill  it  with  the  beauty  of  angelic 
forms,  with  the  feast  and  fatness  of  God's  house,  and  the 
raptures  of  his  ravished  people,  and  so  preserving  the  youth 
uncorrupted,  lead  him  into  settled  manhood,  and  make  him 
a  man  great  in  well-doing,  the  patron  of  good  works,  an 
honour  to  his  name,  and  the  boast  of  the  country  round. 

Thus,  truly,  it  would  fare  with  all  conditions,  if  they 
would  take  up  the  pattern  of  Christ  and  imbibe  his  Spirit ; 
and  thus  would  the  ills  of  every  condition  be  treated,  and 
men  live  happy  and  die  peaceful  and  enter  into  everlasting 
habitations. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 


PART  V. 


PRELimNARlES  OF  THE  SOLEMN  JUDGMENT. 

The  Almighty  Governor  of  heaven  and  earth,  having 
such  claims  upon  the  human  race  and  such  a  regard  for  their 
well-being,  as  we  set  forth  in  the  first  head  of  this  argument, 
did  accord  to  the  wants  and  welfare  of  human  nature  that 
constitution  of  laws  whereof  we  have  unfolded  the  principles, 
and  the  excellent  adaptation  both  to  the  individual  and  the 
social  state  of  man.  Having  done  so  much,  he  might  have 
left  it  to  make  way  upon  the  strength  of  its  own  merits  with- 
out any  further  recommendation  than  its  present  fitness  and 
advantage  ;  in  which  case  he  would  have  stood  to  us  in  the 
relation  of  a  counsellor  who  points  out  the  good  and  evil  of 
conduct,  and  the  way  to  reach  tranquillity  and  happiness  ; 
or  of  a  father  who,  before  he  departs,  bequeathes  to  his 
children  the  legacy  of  his  wisdom  and  affection.  Even  so, 
God,  having  revealed  his  best  counsels  to  the  sons  of  men, 
might  have  retired  within  the  veil  and  left  all  beyond  the 
grave  secret  and  unknown. 

But  perceiving  in  us  such  contumacious  neglect  of  himself 
and  of  all  that  he  could  do  for  our  sakes,  and  such  base  pre- 
ference of  sensual  and  temporary  interests  over  spiritual  and 
eternal,  he  hath  appointed  a  day  in  which  he  will  call  an  ac- 
count of  the  good  and  the  evil,  and  make  a  grand  and  nota- 
ble decision  between  those  who  regarded  him  and  those 
who  regarded  him  not.  For  he  hath  too  tender  an  inter- 
est in  that  which  is  good  not  to  sustain  it  by  every  means, 
while  for  that  which  is  evil  he  hath  too  great  an  abhorrence 
to  keep  its  direful  consequences  secret ;  therefore,  it  hath 
pleased  him  to  lift  up  the  veil  of  death  and  the  grave,  and 
show  the  spectacle  of  eternal  judgment  and  the  separate  is- 
sues of  obeying  and  disobeying  his  revealed  law.     Frequent 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  177 

descriptions  are  given  of  this  judgment  in  the  Scriptures,  and 
allusions  to  it  are  ever  recurring  throughout  the  preaching  of 
Christ  and  of  the  Apostles.  It  is  used  to  arrest  the  fears 
of  the  wicked,  and  to  rejoice  the  patience  of  the  righteous. 
To  escape  the  wrath  to  come,  is  the  ground  upon  which  all 
men  are  commanded  to  repent  and  to  believe  in  Christ, 
who  came  into  the  world  that  men  might  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life.  By  this  institution  of  judgment,  God 
hath  superinduced,  upon  the  affectionateness  of  the  father 
and  the  kindness  of  the  counsellor,  the  authority  of  the  law- 
giver and  governor ;  and  his  revelations,  from  being  admo- 
nitions and  exhortations,  pass  into  the  severe  character  of 
laws  which  it  is  perilous  to  disobey.  All  that  hath  been 
hitherto  propounded  of  their  good  consequences  must  there- 
fore be  regarded,  not  as  acts  of  judgment  so  much,  as  natu- 
ral effects  flowing  from  their  obedience.  We  come  now  to 
the  awful  exercise  of  Almighty  judgment,  having  hitherto 
t^^eated  only  of  his  exquisite  wisdom,  his  long-suffering,  mer- 
cy, and  his  most  abundant  kindness. 

Now,  though  this  be  a  subject  of  pure  revelation,  it  is  one 
which  may  be  handled  with  great  deference  to  human  rea- 
son and  to  our  natural  sentiments  of  justice  ;  and  therefore 
we  solicit,  as  formerly,  from  our  reader,  a  lively  exercise  of 
all  his  faculties,  and  a  ready  proposal  of  all  his  doubts  ;  our 
object  being  not  to  overawe  him  with  terrific  descriptions  of 
things  unseen,  in  which  imagination  may  at  liberty  disport, 
but  to  convince  him  how  consonant  things  revealed  are  to 
the  best  sentiments  and  interests  of  mankind.  We  have 
seen  how  exquisitely  God  hath  accorded  his  law,  to  the  hon- 
our and  advantage  of  man,  and  he  may  therefore  be  expect- 
ed to  accord  the  judgment  thereof  no  less  exquisitely  to  our 
sentiments  of  justice  and  equity  ;  for  we  take  it  to  be  a  first 
principle  of  every  communication  from  a  wise  and  good  God, 
that  it  should  have  something  in  it  for  the  advantage  of  the 
creature  to  whom  it  is  made  :  and,  accordingly,  we  hope  to 
make  it  appear  that  God  doth  not  preserve  his  dignity  at  the 
expense  of  his  justice,  or  wield  his  authority  at  the  expense 
of  his  mercy,  but  consulteth  for  all  his  noble  attributes  equal- 
ly and  alike ;  in  every  action  making  their  combined  lustre 
to  shine  forth. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  carry  the  reason  of  men  along  with 
us  into  this  solemn  subject  of  judgment  to  come,  we  shall 
consider  the  doubts  and  difficulties  which  the  mind  hath  in 
meditating  the  transactions  of  the  great  day,  and  endeavour 
to  render  the  best  resolution  of  them  in  our  power,  before 


178  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

entering  upon  the  very  article  of  the  judgment  and  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  it  proceeds.  These  preliminary  doubts 
and  hesitations  are  of  two  classes  ;  one  arising  from  the  dif- 
ficulties of  conception,  the  other  arising  from  our  apprehen- 
sions lest  justice  should  be  violated. 

The  first  class  to  which  we  shall  give  immediate  attention, 
springs  from  ruminating  upon  the  magnitude  of  the  work  to 
be  performed,  and  the  incredible  multitude  to  be  judged. 
When  we  would  grapple  with  the  subject,  conception  is 
stunned  and  calculation  confounded,  and  a  most  unpleasant 
incertitude  induced  upon  the  mind.  Our  slow-moving  fa- 
culties cannot  reckon  the  countless  multitude,  our  subdivi- 
sions of  time  cannot  find  moments  for  the  execution  of  the 
mighty  work.  The  details  of  each  case  reaching  to  the  in- 
most thought,  the  discrimination  of  their  various  merit  and 
demerit,  with  the  proportionate  award  of  justice  to  each, 
seem  a  weary  work  for  which  infinite  time  as  well  as  Al- 
mighty faculties  are  required.  Taking  advantage  of  this 
confusion  of  the  faculties  of  conception,  many  evil  sugges- 
tions enter  into  the  mind,  and  destroy  the  great  effect  which 
the  revelation  of  judgment  to  come  is  designed  to  produce. 
One  thinks  he  will  pass  muster  in  such  a  crowd,  and  that  he 
need  not  take  the  matter  to  heart ;  another,  that  he  will  find 
a  sort  of  countenance  in  the*^  multitudes  that  are  worse  than 
he  ;  a  third,  that  if  he  be  condemned  it  will  be  in  the  corn- 
pan;^  of  those  whose  company  he  preferred  on  earth,  and  will 
continue  to  prefer  so  long  as  he  continues  to  be  himself ;  and 
thus  the  whole  power  of  the  revelation  is  laid  prostrate. 

In  like  manner  have  I  seen  every  other  revelation  of  God 
deflowered  of  its  beauty  and  defeated  of  its  strength  by  simi- 
lar endeavours  to  dive  into  the  methods  by  which  it  is  to  be 
carried  into  effect.  For  example,  out  of  all  the  good  which 
there  is  in  the  revelation  of  creation  and  providence,  it  were 
as  easy  to  escape  by  similar  interrogations  into  the  method 
of  operation. 

It  is  said  that  God  created  man  of  the  dust  of  the  earth, 
and  that  he  formed  Eve  of  a  rib  from  Adam's  side.  This, 
as  it  stands,  is  a  sublime  lesson  of  God's  power  a\id  our  hum- 
ble origin,  and  of  the  common  incorporate  nature  of  man  and 
woman  j  but  if  you  go  to  task  your  powers  of  comprehen- 
sion, you  are  punished  for  your  presumption  by  the  arid 
scepticism  and  bari'enness  of  heart  which  comes  over  you. 
Make  man  of  dust  ?  we  soliloquize.  How  is  that  ?  Of  dust 
we  can  make  the  mould  or  form  of  man,  but  what  is  baked 
clay  to  living  flesh  and-  conscious  spirit  ?     Make  it  in  one 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  179 

day  ? — these  thousand  fibres,  more  delicate  than  the  gossa« 
mer's  thread — these  thousand  vessels,  more  fine  than  the  dis- 
cernment of  the  finest  instrument  of  vision — these  bones,  ba- 
lanced and  knit  and  compacted  so  strongly — these  muscles, 
with  their  thousand  combinations  of  movement — this  secret 
organization  of  brain,  the  seat  of  thought — the  eye,  the  ear, 
the  every  sense,  all  constructed  out  of  earth,  and  in  one  day  ? 
This  stately  formof  manhood,  which  requires  generation  and 
slow  conception,  and  the  milky  juices  of  the  mother,  and  ten 
thousand  meals  of  food,  and  the  exercise  of  infinite  thought 
and  actions,  long  years  of  days  and  nights,  the  one  to  prac- 
tise and  train,  the  other  to  rest  and  refresh  the  frame,  before 
it  can  come  to  any  maturity — this  is  to  be  created  in  one  da^ 
out  of  primitive  dust  of  the  ground  ?     Impossible  !  unintelli- 
gible !     And   if  we  go  farther  into  the  thing,  and  meditate 
that,  seeing  there  was  no  second  act  of  God,  this  creation  out 
of  dust  was  not  of  one  man  and  one  woman,  but  of  all  men 
and  all  women  that  have  been  and  are  to  be  for  ever;  that 
it  was  virtually  the  peopling  of  all  nations  and  kingdoms  of 
the  earth  in  one  day  out  of  inanimate  dust — who  can  fathom 
the  work  ?  It  is  inconceivable,  idle,  and  not  worthy  a  thought. 
Thus  the  mind  becomes  the  dupe  of  its  own  inquisitiveness, 
and  loseth  all  the  benefit  of  this  revelation. 

Not  less  out  of  the  comforts  of  Providence  have  I  seen 
the  wisest  men  beguiled  by  the  nicety  and  importunateness 
of  their  research.     They  have  reasoned  of  the  multitude  of 
God's  avocations  throughout  the  peopled  universe,  in  every 
star  imagining  the  centre  of  some  revolving  system,  in  every 
system  the  dwelling-place  of  various  tribes  of  beings,  until 
they  had  the  Almighty  so  occupied  as  neither  to  have  time 
nor  care  for  our  paltry  earth.     And  if  you  can  fix  their  at- 
tention upon  the  earth,  they  do  straightway  so  overwhelm 
themselves  with  the  myriads  who  dwell  thereon,  and  their 
own  insignificant  place  amongst  so  many,  that  they  cannot 
see  the  small  part  of  his  providence  which  can  be  afforded  unto 
them  ;  and  thus,  from  prayer,  from  trust  and  hope  of  future 
bliss,  they  escape  into  a  heartless  indifference  and  a  wreckless 
independence  towards  their  Creator  ;— all  which  aripeth  from 
their  subdividing,  by  active  calculation,  the  great  work  which 
God  hath  to  do,  without,  at  the  same  time,  multiplying  the 
power  of  the   Almighty  to  discharge  it  all,  untroubled  and 
undisturbed.     I  could  show  equally  fatal  results  wrought  by 
the  same  unrestrained  appetite  for  speculation  in  the  great 
work  of  redemption,  but  it  would  lead  me  away  too  far  from 
the  scope  of  the  argument, 


180  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

Now,  as  in  creation  I  pretend  not  to  unfold  the  method* 
of  bringing  all  things  into  being  and  harmonious  action,  nei- 
ther in  providence  to  disclose  the  means  for  dealing  out  to 
them,  day  by  day,  those  supplies  of  nourishment  and  power 
by  which  their  being  and  their  action  are  sustained ;  no 
more  do  I  undertake  to  unfold  the  forms  of  process  by  which, 
in  the  last  dread  day,  the  Almighty  Judge  will  deal  out  to 
each  mortal  the  measure  of  his  deserving  or  delinquency  ; 
being  convinced  that  from  any  such  attempt  there  would 
come  up  over  my  mind  a  mist  thicker  than  that  which  cov- 
ered the  land  of  Egypt,  in  the  midst  of  which  I  should  wan- 
der like  the  sinful  men  of  Sodom.     But  will  I  therefore 
abide  from  sceptical  men  any  derision  or  scorn  to  be  cast 
upon  this  solemn  affair  ?     Never.     The  mole,  who  worketh 
his  little  gallery  under  ground,  may  as  well  pretend  to  under- 
stand the  minings  and  counterminings  of  a  mighty  army ; 
the  New  Holland  savage  may  as  well  pretend  to  understand 
the  noble  forms  of  a  British  Assize  by  his  own  club-law  ad- 
ministration, as  may  vain  man,  though  educated  in  these  en- 
lightened times,  pretend  to  understand  the  forms  of  the  Al- 
mighty procedure  of  judgment.     Nor  are  these  perplexities 
to  be  resolved  by  any  supply  of  intelligence,  for  we  shall  ne- 
ver be  able  to  understand  any  of  the  works  of  God  ;  but  they 
are  rather  to  be  carried  off  by  meditating  upon  the  magni- 
tude of  the  Almighty's  power  and  wisdom  to  do  all  the  plea- 
sure of  his  will.  As  to  founding  scepticism  or  disbelief  upon 
this  incompetency  of  our  conception,  it  is  the  height  of  weak- 
ness and  ignorance ;  seeing  there  is  not  one  single  case  in 
which  conception  does  not  suffer  the  same  eclipse,  and  cal- 
culation the  same  confusion  oftheir  powers,  when  they  would 
essay  to  contend  with  any  other  of  the  doings  of  the  Lord. 
Let  them  endeavour  to  reckon  up  the  number  of  mouths 
which  he  sustains  in  the  various  animal  tribes  ;  or  the  num- 
ber of  organs  which  go  by  their  healthy  operation  to  continue 
the  well-being  of  each, — the  fibrous  sinews,  the  cellular  folds, 
the  pipes  and  channels  through  which  life's  fluids  are  dif- 
fused.    Let  them  reckon  up  the  number  of  seeds  which  he 
generates  every  year  for  their  sustenance,  or  the  many-web- 
bed structure  of  one  single  plant.     Let  them  tell  the  number 
of  imaginations  which  the  indwelling  soul  can  conceive,  the 
rate  at  which  they  speed  through  the  provinces  of  time  and 
space,  the  number  of  past  impressions  which  lie  treasured 
in  the  mind,  and  the  number  of  hopes  and  wishes  which  it 
sendeth  scouting  into  the  portentous  future.     Let  them  fa- 
thom the  depths  of  space,  and  circumnavigate  the  outward 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  181 

bound  of  creation,  and  bring  home  the  number  of  the  stars 
through  all  the  glorious  galaxies  and  the  milky  way  of  hea- 
ven,— and  sum  the  number  of  living  things,  vegetable,  ani- 
mal, and  rational,  which  are  found  under  the  dominion  of 
God  ;  and  they  shall  find  how  utterly  Unequal  is  the  task, 
when  the  powers  and  faculties  of  man  would  cope  with  any 
one  of  the  works  of  Almighty  God. 

Now,  if  by  one  word  of  his  mouth  he  could  create  the 
subtle  and  pervading  light,  and  by  another  carpet  the  chaotic 
earth  with  green  and  fragrant  beauty,  and  by  a  third  replen- 
ish all  its  chambers  with  living  creatures,  and  by  a  fourth 
beget  the  winged  fancy  and  creative  thought  of  man  ;  since 
which  day  of  wondrous  birth-giving  creation  hath  stood 
strong  and  stedfast,  and  procreation  gone  on  successive,  and 
will  continue  so  to  do,  the  astronomers  demonstrate  and  the 
naturalists  declare,  until  the  same  powerful  word  interfere  to 
'shake  and  overthrow  it  all — who,  who  can  misgive  of  the 
ability  of  God  in  one  day  of  judgment  to  review  all  the  ef- 
fects which  one  day  of  creation  did  originate,  and  to  organ-^ 
ize  a  new  constitution  of  things  which  shall  be  stable  and 
everlasting  as  this  in  which  we  have  our  present  abode.  It 
seemeth  to  me,  that  what  we  call  the  day  of  judgment,  we 
shall  thereafter  call  the  day  of  second  creation,  on  which  God 
launched  our  being  anew,  and  furnished  our  voyage  of  exis^ 
tence  the  second  time  ;  and  it  may  be  recounted  by  us  in  one 
short  chapter,  at  the  beginning  of  the  sacred  annals,  even  as 
our  creation  is  recounted  in  the  Bible  ;  and  prove  to  us, 
when  it  is  past,  as  incomprehensible  a  work  as  it  now  doth 
seem  to  us,  looking  forward,  or  as  creation  seemeth  to  us, 
looking  backward  ;  and,  though  incomprehensible,  be  as  pre- 
sent to  our  feeling  and  our  observation  as  the  objects  of  cre- 
ation are,  and  as  demonstrative  of  God's  justice  as  creation 
is  demonstrative  of  his  power. 

As  to  the  forms  with  which  it  is  presented  in  Scripture, 
viz.  the  ushering  in  of  the  solemn  day  by  the  archangel  and 
the  trump  of  God — the  white  throne  of  judgment,  with  the 
judge  that  sitteth  thereon — the  glorious  company  of  angels — 
the  opening  of  the  books,  in  which  stand  recorded  every 
man's  account  of  good  and  ill — the  solemn  separation,  to  the 
right  and  the  left,  of  the  two  great  divisions  of  men — and 
their  separate  verdicts  of  blessing  and  of  cursing, — these  are 
no  more  to  be  understood  by  the  letter  than  any  other  of  the 
works  of  God,  but  to  be  taken  as  an  iqjage  or  device  of  the 
transaction,  done  with  the  best  similitudes  that  the  earth  con- 
tains ;  and  seeing  there  never  was  and  never  will  be  a  state 

24 


182  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

of  society  to  which  a  day  of  judgment  is  strange,  God  hath 
chosen  this  emblem  as  being  the  most  likely  interpretation  of 
it  to  the  understanding  and  feeling  of  all  men  in  all  ages  to 
■whom  the  tidings  of  it  might  come.  But  it  were  a  vain  thing 
to  puzzle*imagination  and  perplex  conception  with  the  details 
thereof,  with  the  array  of  a  human  assize  or  the  bustle  of  a 
judgment-seat,  where  all  the  world  was  to  appear  and  be  ta- 
ken successively  under  cognizance  of  the  judge  ;  for  instantly 
immensity  overwhelms  the  thought,  and  stupifies  the  feeling, 
the  crowd  forms  a  shelter  to  the  fears,  and  the  company,  the 
innumerable  companions  of  our  fate,  gives  a  cheer  to  the  mis- 
giving heart.  We  throw  ourselves  loose,  therefore,  from  the 
details  of  the  ritual,  and  aim  at  nothing  but  to  preserve  the 
spirit  of  the  transaction ;  not  but  that  these  details  are  high- 
ly useful  and  in  the  very  best  keeping  with  the  majesty  and 
terror  of  the  scene,  serving  to  convey  ideas  and  imagina- 
tions of  the  great  event,  and  to  embody  it  to  the  mind  ;  and 
being  used  for  inspiring  reverence  and  awakening  conscience 
and  setting  forth  impartial  retribution  and  resistless  power, 
they  serve  good  ends  of  knowledge  and  feeling — but  because 
when  used  for  straining  conception,  and  deafening  conviction 
and  impairing  belief,  they  do  but  befool  us  in  the  maze  of 
God's  power,  which  our  faculties  cannot  unravel. 

If  I  were  to  venture  an  opinion  it  would  be  this  :  that  the 
action  will  take  place,  not  by  a  successive  summons  of  each 
individual,  and  a  successive  inquisition  of  his  case,  but  by  an 
instantaneous  separation  of  the  two  classes  the  one  from  the 
other.  Nor  do  I  fancy  to  myself  the  bodily  presence  of  any 
judge,  or  the  utterance  by  his  lips  of  vocal  sounds,  althqugh 
it  be  so  written,  any  more  than  I  fancy  a  loud  voice  to  have 
been  uttered  by  the  Eternal  for  the  light  to  come  forth,  or 
any  other  part  of  the  material  universe  to  arise  into  being. 
But  1  rather  think  it  to  be  more  congenial  to  the  other  works 
of  God,  when  it  is  imagined  that  these  souls,  and  the  bodies 
recreated  for  their  use,  will  be  planted  without  knowing  how, 
each  class  in  the  abodes  prepared  for  them  ;  and  that  they  will 
not  be  consulted  about  the  equity  of  the  measure.  God  wiU 
leave  them  to  find  out  the  rectitude  of  the  proceeding,  as  he 
left  us  to  find  out  the  rectitude  of  his  proceeding  at  the  fall. 
He  told  Adam  of  the  loss  of  paradise.  If  Adam  had  specu- 
lated thereon,  he  would  have  found  himself  unequal  to  the 
speculation.  Yet  the  word  of  the  Lord  stood  fast,  and  he 
found  himself  stripped  and  denuded,  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye,  of  his  pristine  glory  and  innocence.  God  did  not  bandy 
the  question  with  him,  nor  try  conclusions  as  at  a  human  bar. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  1S3 

The  thing  came  about  by  moral  laws  of  being  olckr  than  the 
creation — yea,  old  as  the  eternal  existence  of  God  ;  and,  in 
the  same  manner,  by  laws  of  being  equally  old  and  sure,  shall 
come  about  the  opening  of  paradise  again  to  the  righteous, 
and  the  barring  of  hope  and  happiness  to  the  wicked. 

But  though,  in  this  summary  manner,  most  like  to  a  divine 
work,  we  present  the  thing  to  your  conception,  we  do  in  no- 
thing invalidate  the  principle  upon  which  the  division  of 
righteous  from  wicked  is  to  come  about,  but  rather  make  it 
the  more  valid,  seeing  it  is,  like  the  threatening  in  paradise, 
the  only  thing  to  which  we  have  to  look.  If  we  were  to  hav^ 
a  debate  for  our  life,  even  after  having  contravened  the  pre- 
script, then  verily  hope  would  suspend  itself  upon  the 
chance  of  fortunate  or  mitigated  issue.  But  now,  when  we 
give  up  this  as  mere  exposition  and  enforcement  of  the  great 
separation  and  awful  issues,  it  becomes  more  momentous  to 
dwell  on  that  separate  description  of  character  which  comes 
in  for  the  whole  determination  of  our  fate. 

I  regard  all  descriptions  of  judgment,  therefore,  to  be  only 
a  way  of  stating  to  us  the  design  of  God,  as  to  our  recovery 
from  this  fallen  state  and  re-admission  into  paradise,  or  our 
expulsion  from  this  purgatorial  state  of  existence  and  detru- 
sion  to  the  changeless  settlements  of  the  reprobate.  These 
descriptions  are  no  more  than,  "  Do  this  and  live ;"  "  in  the 
day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die  ;"  uttered  in  a 
more  expanded  form  to  meet  the  various  faculties  of  human 
nature,  fancy,  judgment,  fear,  hope,  pain,  or  pleasure;  but 
they  do  no  more  imply  that  by  the  forms  of  an  earthly  tri- 
bunal we  shall  be  judged,  than  the  creation  of  animals  at 
first  implies  the  modes  of  their  present  creation.  When  the 
■end  of  all  things  hath  come,  and  the  renovation  of  all  things 
hath  taken  place,  I  reckon  that  the  bodies  of  men  will  start 
from  their  unconscious  state  of  dispersion  and  dissolution, 
as  the  materials  of  Adam's  body  came  at  first  from  their  se- 
cret and  various  places,  or  as  the  earth  teemed  out  her  va- 
rious tribes  ;  and  that  the  soul  will  come  from  its  intermedi- 
ate sojourn,  as  Adam's  soul  came,  no  one  knoweth  whence, 
and  be  united  to  her  ancient  comrade.  So  that  the  moment 
the  sleep  of  death  is  broken  by  the  trump  of  God,  we  shall 
find  ourselves,  each  one  ere  we  wis,  with  the  paradise  of 
heaven  overshadowing  our  heads,  or  the  pavement  of  hell 
glowing  beneath  our  feet. 

This  mode  of  conceiving  the  matter,  which  is  the  only 
one  congenial  to  the  other  operations  of  the  Almighty,  doth 
in  no  re^peot  do  away  with  the  Sicripture  emblems  9  for  it  is 


184  or  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 

no  less  a  judgment  because  it  is  so  prompt  and  slummary, 
and  it  is  no  less  a  day  of  judgment,  seeing  it  is  the  com- 
mencement of  a  new  era,  like  the  days  of  creation.  The 
mind  may  startle  at  the  liberty  or  daringness  of  these  con- 
ceptions, but  we  do  propound  them  out  of  no  rash  nor  vain- 
glorious spirit,  being  conscious  of  entire  inadequacy  to  such 
matters,  but  only  to  break  the  charm,  and  deliver  at  once 
from  that  body  of  perplexities  which  hath  no  existence  but 
in  the  folly  of  interpreting  the  emblems  of  Scripture  with  a 
fastidious  nicety  ;  nor  will  it  hinder  me  the  less  from  enter- 
ing with  minutest  inquiry  into  the  principles  upon  which  the 
decision  is  to  be  founded. 

But  there  remain  still  two  previous  questions :  one,  as  to 
God's  ability  to  have  in  mind  all  the  conscious  thoughts,  ex- 
pressed words,  and  performed  actions  of  every  creature  that 
hath  lived,  so  as  to  divide  destiny  with  such  dexterous  arbi-^ 
tration  among  them  all — the  other,  as  to  our  satifaction  with, 
and  acquiescence  in,  the  verdict. 

For  the  first  I  answer,  that  by  the  same  wondrous  attri- 
butes by  which  God  hath  created  and  doth  sustain  all  think- 
ing, active  minds,  he  is  able  to  observe  apd  notify  and  keep 
account  of  their  infinite  imaginations  and  actions,  good  and 
ill.  It  is  surely  an  easy  thing  for  him,  who  hath  created,  to 
understand  that  which  he  hath  created,  and  to  know  and  to 
reckon  up  the  results  which  it  doth  produce  by  its  operation. 
The  Father  of  human  thought  surely  knoweth  his  child  ;  he 
that  constructed  the  machinery  of  human  nature,  and  fitted 
all  the  things  in  the  world  to  act  thereon  for  good  or  for  evil, 
and  gave  a  law  approving  or  disapproving  every  possible 
consciousness  which  ariseth  within  or  escapeth  outward  by 
speech  or  action ;  that  same  Being  doubtless  is  able  to  ob- 
serve, nay,  and  cannot  but  be  observant  of  every  creature, 
and  of  every  creature's  various  thoughts,  and  of  every  crea- 
ture's various  motives,  and  of  every  creature's  various  ac- 
tions, whether  ihey  be  subordinated  to  the  principles  which 
that  creature  knoweth  from  his  own  conscience,  or  from 
God's  law,  to  be  good.  Whosoever  belie veth  that  the  hu-' 
man  race  sprung  from  the  Father  of  all,  and  from  him  had 
those  laws  of  their  nature,  out  of  which  have  been  evolved 
the  whole  series  of  thought  and  action  which  constitute  life, 
must  admit  that  he  can  sum  the  series  at  the  end,  and  exhibit 
the  exact  amount  of  good  and  ill,  of  obedience  and  disobe- 
dience, which  it  contains. 

But  I  will  advance  somewhat  farther,  and  declare,  that  it 
seemeth  to  me  a  thing  impossible,  that  to  any  xreature  un- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  185 

der  the  sun  aught  should  happen  of  which  God  is  uncon- 
scious. It  were  a  limitation  of  his-  divinity  to  think  so. 
There  were,  in  that  case,  dark  chambers  into  which  we  could 
retire  out  of  his  sight,  regions  of  experience  where  we  might 
dwell  out  of  his  control.  There  were  things  which  had  a 
power  to  come  and  go  without  a  warrant,  elements  of  crea- 
tion escaped  from  their  bounden  spheres,  which  now  be- 
nighted their  Creator,  and  kept  from  their  quarters  his  per- 
vading sight ;  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  absurd,  see- 
ing there  is  no  power  which  he  hath  not  bestowed,  and  no 
function  of  being  whereof  he  doth  not  supply  the  ability  ;  to 
the  exercise  of  which  he  must,  therefore,  be  conscious.  Every 
course,  righteous  and  sinful,  obedient  and  disobedient,  regu- 
lar and  eccentric,  we  pursue  in  the  strength  of  his  suste- 
nance ;  and  what  he  gives  power  to  do,  he  surely  must 
know  the  doing  of — else,  how  could  he  apportion  the  power 
to  do  it  ?  This  is  no  less  true  in  the  world  within  the  breast 
than  it  is  in  the  world  without.  For  what  is  a  thought 
within  the  mind  but  an  accident  that  hath  happened  to  the 
inward  man  ?  an  event  in  the  spiritual  world,  an  offspring 
in  the  mind  through  the  operation  of  the  outward  world. 
If  such  could  happen  without  God's  perception,  then  we  are 
reduced  to  believe  that,  in  their  various  actions  and  reac- 
tions, things  are  capable  of  some  results  by  God  unforeseen, 
to  God  unknown,  and  by  God  unprovided  for ;  that  he  had 
placed  in  them  a  faculty  without  knowing  that  he  had  placed 
it  there  ;  that  they  were  more  liberally  endowed  than  he 
meant  them  to  be ;  that  he  had  given  without  being  consci- 
ous of  having  given,  and  did  surpass  with  his  creative  hand 
the  purpose  of  his  intending  will.  In  the  world  of  matter, 
therefore,  it  is  true  that  the  hairs  of  our  head  are  numbered, 
that  a  sparrow  falleth  not  to  the  ground  without  the  permis- 
sion of  God  ;  and  in  the  world  of  mind  it  is  no  less  true, 
that  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  breathe,  and  have  our 
being. 

All  that  hath  happened  in  his  creation  God  must  necessa- 
rily knov/,  then  it  becomes  a  question  if  he  can  ever  forget. 
Here  again  we  transfer  to  God  ideas  drawn  from  our  own  lim- 
ited being.  Remembering  and  forgetting,  so  far  as  I  can  un- 
derstand, are  not  the  attributes  of  a  separate  spirit,  but  of  an 
embodied  spirit.  The  distinctions  of  past,  present,  and  tp 
come,  are  not  in  the  events  themselves,  which  are  constant- 
ly existing  on  every  side,  and  which  do  not  grow  old  with 
the  past,  or  come  alive  from  the  future,  but  ar^  ever  certain 
like  the  present.    The  past  is  immersed  and  lost  sight  of  in 


id5  of  JUDGMENT  TO  COMt:. 

a  sea  of  present  impressions,  but  is  not  lost,  but  comes  float- 
ing up  by  suggestion  of  the  present,  or  when  we  retire  from 
the  obtrusion  of  the  present.  The  future,  again,  is  obscure 
only  through  imperfection  of  knowledge,  and  can  be  antici- 
pated with  certainty,  according  to  the  accuracy  of  science, 
as  astronomy  and  other  sciences  show.  So  that  of  any  spi- 
rit, it  seems  to  me,  which  hath  no  body  to  occupy  it  with 
present  sensation,  the  thoughts  must  ever  live,  and  never 
be  forgotten ;  and  in  every  spirit  which  hath  perfect  know- 
ledge of  any  department  of  creation,  the  future  must  be  as 
certain  as  the  present  and  the  past.  To  God,  to  whom  ap- 
pertaineth  knowledge  infinite  of  what  is,  that  which  is  to 
come  is  present  and  certain ;  to  God,  to  whom  all  things 
are  equally  known,  all  things  must  be  equally  present.  At 
any  point  of  time  he  must  be  the  same  as  at  any  other  point 
of  time,  not  more  knowing,  not  more  wise.  To  imagine 
forgetfulness  in  him  were  to  imagine  fluctuation  and  change. 

Time  is  a  current  down  which  he  passeth  not ;  he  is  like 
the  ocean  out  of  which  it  is  fed,  and  into  which  it  returns 
again. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  God,  who  gave  to 
every  man  his  proper  measure  of  faculties,  and  placed  eve- 
ry man  in  a  field  more  or  less  fertile  of  opportunity  to 
good  and  temptation  to  evil,  and  lit  up  in  every  man's 
breast  a  greater  or  a  smaller  light  of  understanding,  and 
gave  to  some  no  revelation,  placed  others  under  false  reli- 
gions, and  others  under  superstitious  forms  of  the  true  reli- 
gion, and,  finally,  gave  to  us  Protestants  the  whole  sum  of 
saving  knowledge,  is  able  to  observe  and  note  each  one  ac- 
cording to  the  various  given  conditions  of  his  existence,  and 
treat  each  one  hereafter  according  to  the  nicest  discrimina- 
tion of  justice.  Each  one,  therefore,  whatever  degree  of 
intellect  he  possesseth,  and  in  whatever  chamber  of  life  he 
dwells,  may  depend  upon  it  that  his  Maker,  who  places 
and  sustains  him  there  for  the  performance  of  the  best  du- 
ties he  can  discern,  doth  take  knowledge  of  his  goings  out 
and  his  comings  in,  doth  search  the  heart  and  try  the  reins, 
and  remark  every  word  while  yet  it  resteth  half- formed  up- 
on the  lips. 

But  there  still  remaineth  one  most  important  preliminary 
question:  How  we  ourselves  shall  be  conscious  of  the  jus- 
tice of  the  decision  which  God  hath  the  knowledge  and  the 
wisdom  to  discern  ?  For  it  is  of  the  essence  of  justice,  that 
the  various  offences  of  which  one  is  accused  should  be 
brought  home  to  his  consciousness  and  conviction,  before 


jOf  judgment  to  come,  187 

he  can  be  fairly  condemned ;  and  if  this  be  not  done,  the 
mind  rises  in  its  strength  against  the  award  of  judgment, 
and  regards  itself  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  justice.  Nay 
more,  it  is  equally  essential  to  justice,  that  the  offender 
have  room  to  plead  in  his  own  behalf  every  thing  in  extenua?. 
tion  of  his  guilt.  Now,  saith  the  perplexed  mind,  how  shall 
this  take  place  at  the  last  arraignment,  when  we  are  raised 
from  our  graves  and  mustered  to  the  grand  assize  ? — Even 
before  we  leave  the  coasts  of  time,  the  greater  part  of  our 
transactions,  good  and  bad,  have  passed  into  oblivion ;  the 
dotage  of  old  age  hath  perhaps  come  on,  and  reduced  life 
into  a  fugitive  dream  : — How  then,  when  we  are  awakened 
from  the  tomb,  shall  the  memory  of  all  that  we  have  done 
be  recovered,  that  we  may  be  brought  to  the  bar  in  a  state 
to  hear  and  meet  our  accusations,  and  acquiesce  in  the  righ- 
teousness of  judgment?  And,  being  at  the  bar,  shall  we 
have  a  hearing  for  ourselves  ?  Life,  even  with  the  aids  of 
revelation,  is  an  intricate  affair,  and  the  best  guided  are  of- 
ten in  perplexity,  while  without  revelation,  it  is  a  matter  al- 
most of  haphazard  whether  we  go  right  or  wrong.  Cus- 
toms, over  the  origin  of  which  we  had  no  control — opinions, 
■which  we  found  bearing  the  world  before  them — misgovern- 
ment  of  rulers,  lashing  subjects  into  madness — weary  toil, 
consuming  the  time  and  very  faculty  of  thought — stormy 
passions  within  the  breast — gross  darkness  without,  cover- 
iDg  the  age  and  place  of  our  nativity — these  things  master- 
edus,  (as  whom  can  they  not  master !)  and  these  pleas  we 
have  a  right  to  be  heard  on,  otherwise,  that  judgment  of 
yours  is  a  mass  of  iniquity  and  a  medley  of  confusion. 

Now,  here  is  a  nice  question  requiring  a  nice  solution, 
and  leading  into  inquiries  which  are  almost  entitled  to  a  se- 
parate place  in  this  argument  of  Judgment  to  Come.  We 
are  given  to  understand  from  Scripture,  and  natural  justice 
itself  requires,  that  there  should  be  no  change  nor  alteration 
for  the  better  or  the  worse  effected  upon  the  soul  after  death, 
seeing  that  it  is  to  be  judged  for  the  things  dpne  in  the  body, 
whether  they  have  been  good  or  evil.  As  death  seizeth  us, 
j.udgment  must  find  us.  As  the  tree  falls,  so  it  lieth.  Now, 
wicked  men  get  seared  in  conscience  as  with  a  red-hot  iron, 
and  for  the  most  part  die  hard  and  whole  of  heart  as  the  ne-" 
ther  millstone.  There  would  need  a  resurrection  of  soul  as 
well  as  body,  to  make  it  conscious  to  God's  righteous  judg- 
ment, without  which  consciousness  the  award  can  have  no 
moral  power.  Into  this  difficult  inquiry  I  entef ,  not  without 
hopes  of  casting  light  upon  a  subject  hitherto  dark  and  un- 


188  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 

treated,  which  will  need  no  small  patience  of  investigation, 
and  will  reward  it  with  most  impressive  results,  most  neces- 
sary to  the  understanding  of  the  issues  after  death. 

There  must  pass  upon  the  soul  when  disembodied,  va- 
rious changes  of  which  it  is  not  impossible,  though  difficult, 
to  discern  the  nature  and  the  effects  ;  for  though  none  have 
returned  to  tell,  we  all  suffer  partial  deaths,  from  the  effect 
of  which  it  is  possible  to  reason  as  to  the  effect  of  dissolu- 
tion itself.  We  take  it  for  granted  that  the  soul  passes 
through  unhurt,  that  no  part  of  her  existence  is  destroyed  ; 
she  hath  the  same  contents  of  thoughts,  feelings,  and  hopes, 
on  the  other,  as  on  this  side  the  dark  confines  of  the  grave. 
She  loses  the  enjoyments  of  the  body  and  the  presence  of 
her  friends,  and  her  power  of  conversing  with  material 
scenes,  but  no  part  of  her  consciousness  is  destroyed.  Now, 
by  this  change,  there  must  pass  upon  the  soul  various  effects, 
whereof  the  nature  and  direction,  though  not  the  quantity, 
may  be  discerned  from  the  partial  deaths  which  w^e  are  con- 
stantly undergoing  by  loss  of  friends,  beloved  objects,  con- 
finement, sickness,  and  other  mutilations  of  our  entire  con- 
dition. Let  us  see  what  effects  these  occasional  obscurations 
of  her  outward  estate  have  upon  the  thinking,  feeling  princi- 
ple within,  and  thence  we  may  learn  how  it  fares  with  the 
soul  when  she  is  disembodied.  The  knowledge  of  this  will 
enable  us  to  cast  light  upon  the  previous  question. 

The  first  thing  I  perceive  in  death  is  the  great  change  it  will 
make  in  enhancing  the  past  and  future  over  the  present.  I  think 
it  will  go  hard  to  annihilate  the  present  altogether.  Inour  pre- 
sent condition  things  that  are  past  are  spoken  of  as  dead  or  out 
of  existence,  and  things  that  are  to  come  are  spoken  of  as 
unborn,  and  things  present  alone  as  being  in  real  existence. 
But  this  popular  way  of  conceiving  and  speaking  is  not  ac- 
cording to  truth.  For  things  when  they  are  past  are  not  dead 
to  us,  but  live  and  act  upon  our  condition  in  a  thousand  ways; 
they  live  in  memory,  and  go  to  compose  all  our  knowledge 
and  experience  and  wisdom  ;  they  affect  us  with  repentance 
and  remorse,  or  with  joy  and  self-complacency,  according  to 
their  character  of  good  or  ill ;  they  prepare  us  for  the  present 
by  the  habits  which  they  engender,  and  for  the  future  by  the 
resolutions  to  which  they  give  birth.  Neither  are  future 
events,  though  unborn  to  sense,  without  life  or  influence  over 
the  mind.  They  already  live  in  hope  and  fear,  and  desire 
and  schemes  ;  they  cause  th^  largest  share  of  our  anxiety  and 
arrangement,  and  determine  the  better  part  of  our  happi- 
ness or  misery.    The  soul  is  spread  out  both  behind  and 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  189 

before,  and  with  its  wings  stretcheth  both  ways  into  time, 
and  struggleth  hard  to  compass  the  round  orb  of  eternity. 
It  is  an  error,  therefore,  both  in  conception  and  language,  to 
speak  of  the  present  as  the  only  period  actually  existing 
before  the  soul ;  it  is  the  only  period  actually  existing  before 
the  senses  of  the  body,  and  from  this  the  loose  popular  way 
of  speaking  hath  originated.  The  vision,  the  noise,  and  the 
feeling  of  present  things  are  so  engaging  as  to  have  cast  the 
past  and  the  future  into  the  insignificance  and  dimness  of 
morning  and  evening  twilight.  Present  things  hit  the  sense, 
and  our  senses  carry  such  a  weight  in  the  empire  of  the  mind, 
being  its  five  great  intelligencers  with  the  outward  world, 
that  they  have  deluded  her  into  the  notion  that  they  are  the 
five  elements  of  her  existence. 

Now,  that  she  hath  an  existence  independent  of  them,  is 
manifested  by  her  occupation  in  silence  and  solitude,  when 
she  will  close  her  senses  and  have  a  glad  or  gloomy  season 
of  active  cogitation  ;  nay,  she  will  grow  into  such  absorption 
with  her  inward  being  as  to  lose  the  consciousness  of  things 
passing  around  ;  she  will  sit  in  bustling  places,  yet  hear  no 
noise  ;  move  along  the  crowded  streets,  yet  behold  no  spec- 
tacles ;  consume  her  meals,  yet  taste  no  savours  ;  and  though 
you  surround  the  body  with  discomfort,  and  sting  the  senses 
with  acutest  pain,  the  soul  which  hath  past  heroism  and  vir- 
tue to  reflect  on,  or  future  triumphs  to  anticipate,  will  smile 
in  the  midst  of  torture,  and  grow  insensible  to  torment  ; — in 
all  which  cases,  the  life  of  the  past  and  the  future  is  triumph- 
ing over  the  life  of  the  present.  In  truth,  the  present,  both 
for  its  briefness  and  the  briefness  of  all  its  sensations,  is  in- 
comparably the  least  significant  part  of  human  existence,  and 
it  approximates  a  man  to  the  lower  animals  according  as  his 
affections  are  set  thereon.  With  a  true  man,  the  present  is 
prizable  only  as  it  conieth  out  of  the  womb  of  past  anticipa- 
tion, bringing  things  hoped  for  to  hand,  and  as  it  may  be 
wrought  up  into  the  tissue  of  our  schemes  for  well-develop- 
ing the  future.  It  is  like  the  lees  of  the  cask,  to  f\hich  you 
come  not  till  you  have  first  drunk  the  extract  of  pure  and 
joyful  juice,  and  which  are  best  employed  in  being  turned 
over  to  strengthen  and  impregnate  other  wholesome  decoc- 
tions. 

Seeing,  therefore^  that  the  present  would  fall  altogether 
out  of  sight  were  it  not  for  this  constant  conversation  which 
the  soul  is  forced  by  the  senses  to  maintain  with  outward 
things,  and  even  by  that  necessity  scarcely  keeps  its  ground 
in  wise  and  enlightened  spirits  ;  it  is  manifest  that  when  that 


190  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

necessity  ceaseth,  as  it  doth  at  death,  the  past  and  the  future 
will  come  to  be  all  in  all  to  man.  In  proof  of  which,  behold 
tlie  existence  of  one  who  is  inamured  in  a  solitary  dungeon, 
and  shut  in  from  the  invasion  of  the  outward  world — his  pre- 
sent existence  is  nothing,  bis  past  is  all ;  he  goeth  over  and  over 
the  days  of  his  life,  the  accidents  and  actions  of  which  come 
forth  as  out  of  twilight.  He  remembers,  and  recalls  and  re- 
covers from  the  wastes  of  oblivion,  until  he  wonders  at  the 
strength  of  his  memory.  Set  open  to  him  a  hope  of  deliver- 
ance, and  consuming  the  gloomy  days  and  weary  months 
between,  he  already  lives  with  the  future  yet  unborn.  And 
the  present  is  used  only  to  consume  his  food,  which  he  al- 
most nauseates,  and  he  notches  upon  his  tally  or  marks  upon 
the  wall  one  solitary  mark,  its  only  memorial. 

Now  you  are  prepared  to  understand  how  it  will  be  with 
man  when  he  is  disembodied.  The  body  which  containeth 
the  senses  lies  mouldering  in  the  grave  ;  the  hollow  places 
where  the  ball  of  the  eye  did  roll  in  its  beauty,  and  the  ear 
sat  pleased  in  her  vocal  chambers,  are  passages  for  the 
worms  to  creep  in  and  out,  to  their  feast  upon  the  finer  or- 
gans of  the  brain,  where  the  soul  had  her  council-chamber ; 
and  the  finely-woven  nerves  of  taste  and  smell,  which  called 
upon  every  clime  of  the  earth  for  entertainment,  with  all 
the  beauty  which  nature  pencilled  with  her  cunning  hand 
upon  the  outward  form  of  man,  are  now  overspread  with 
the  clammy  and  contagious  fingers  of  corruption,  and  some 
feet  of  earth  hide  their  unsightly  dissolution  from  the  view 
and  knowledge  of  mankind.  The  link  is  broken  and  rusted 
away  which  joined  the  soul  to  the  enjoyments  or  the  troubles 
of  the  present  world.  No  new  material  investments  are 
given  to  her,  whereby  ta  move  again  in  the  midst  of  these 
material  things  ;  no  eye,  nor  ear,  nor  wakeful  sense,  by 
which  intrusion  may  come  as  heretofore  into  the  chambers  of 
her  consciousness.  Till  the  resurrection  she  shall  be  disunited, 
and  then,  being  rejoined  by  her  former  companions,  they 
shall  be  sabmitted  to  material  scenes,  again  to  suffer  and  en- 
joy. What  is  there  now  to  occupy  the  soul  ?  there  is  no 
world,  for  with  the  world  she  hath  no  means  of  conversing  ; 
she  is  separate,  she  is  alone  ;  she  dwelleth  evermore  within 
herself.  There  are  no  sensations  nor  pursuits  to  take  her 
off  from  self-knowledge  and  self-examination.  In  Peter's 
emphatical  language.  She  is  in  prison ;  ("  Jesus  went  and 
preached  to  the  spirits  in  prison  ;"  j  that  is,  she  hath  no 
power  of  travelling  out  amongst  things,  but  is  shut  up  to  her 
own  Vemembrances,  thoughts,  and  anticipations. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  191 

Now,  seeing  it  is  the  fact,  that  when  the  soul  is  delivered 
from  surrounding  and  disturbing  objects  and  occupying  sen- 
sations, she  recovereth  with  wonderful  rapidity  the  lost  im- 
pressions of  the  past,  and  ascertaineth  with  much  judgment 
her  present  condition,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted,  that  when  she 
hath  suffered  her  great  separation,  she  will  be  busily  occu- 
pied with  recovering  from  the  past  all  her  experience,  and 
observing  all  her  condition.  Indeed  I  can  see  no  other  oc- 
cupation to  which  she  can  devote  herself  in  her  purely 
spiritual  existence,  save  this  of  revoking  from  oblivion  all 
the  past,  and  calling  up  from  the  future  all  things  dreaded 
or  hoped  for.  These  are  the  materials  of  her  being,  unless 
God  make  some  addition,  and  whatever  addition  he  makes 
will  be  in  unison  with  these.  These  are  the  elements  of 
her  happiness,  upon  which  she  is  to  cogitate,  reason,  and 
feel.  She  may  work  them  into  new  forms,  conjure  them  by 
active  imagination  into  more  bright  and  more  numerous 
ideas,  work  upon  them  by  the  rules  of  reasonable  thought ; 
but  I  cannot  see,  by  my  understanding,  whence  she  is  to  de- 
rive any  new  materials.  Therefore  she  will  doat  and  dream 
over  her  condition,  live  all  the  past  over  again,  and  float 
away  into  the  future.  And  I  cannot  help  thinking  that 
every  thing  will  come  to  light  that  hath  ever  befallen  her  in 
time. 

But  though  the  events  should  not  all  be  recovered  which 
brought  the  soul  into  the  condition  in  which  she  finds  herself 
when  disembodied  (and  this  is  not  necessary  to  our  argu- 
ment), one  thing  is  certain,  that  whatever  she  doth  recover 
will  stand  out  before  her  in  a  light  altogether  new,  and  that 
she  will  pass  upon  herself  other  judgments  than  those  with 
which  she  is  at  present  content.  Witness  when  you  are  laid 
on  a  bed  of  sickness,  how  you  ruminate  and  reflect  and  turn 
the  eye  inward  upon  the  state  of  your  soul;  how  offended 
conscience  raiseth  up  her  voice,  and  future  fears  come  troop- 
ing up,  like  spirits  from  the  realms  of  night.  Consider,  in 
every  case,  the  different  feelings  with  which  you  spend  your 
time,  and  reflect  upon  it  after  it  is  spent.  The  wheels  of 
enjoyment  glide  smoothly  along,  being  regaled  with  gay  com- 
panionship and  festive  mirth,  and  a  thousand  happy  emotions 
of  body  and  of  mind  ;  but  companions  being  gone  and  the 
light  of  enjoyment  fled,  when  the  mind  looks  back  on  the 
scene  so  gladsome,  what  a  different  aspect  doth  it  wear !  It 
is  to  turn  the  eye  from  the  morning,  gloriously  streaked  with 
the  radiancy  of  coming  day,  backward  to  the  west,  where 
the  sable  curtains  of  night  still  infold  the  heavens  and  the 


192  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 

earth.  Oh  Conscience,  what  a  cheat  thou  art !  How  thou 
allowest  thyself  to  be  laid  asleep  by  present  sensations  of 
delight,  and  then  riseth  upon  us  in  secret  in  all  thy  gloomy 
strength  ! — Thou  art  cowardly,  for  thou  takest  us  alone  and 
in  darkness.  Thou  art  treacherous,  for  thou  forsakest  thy 
post  to  the  enemy.  Thou  art  weak,  for  thou  standest  us  in 
no  stead  in  our  necessity.  Wouldst  thou  either  take  us  or 
let  us  alone,  either  give  us  up  to  enjoyment,  and  trouble  us 
not  with  thine  after  thoughts,  or  else  take  us  to  thyself,  and 
make  us  what  thou  aft  ever  harping  upon  us  to  become. 

Now,  how  Cometh  it  to  pass,  that  reflection  should  cast 
such  a  shade  into  the  estimation  of  our  lives,  if  it  be  not  that 
the  thoughts  are  shut  up  within  themselves  when  we  rumi- 
nate, and  the  outward  world  kept  apart.  We  suffer  in  the 
body  a  kind  of  disembodying,  and  the  result  is  severe  con- 
victions of  the  idleness  and  wickedness  of  our  lives.  What, 
then,  shall  be  the  nature  of  our  reflections  when  we  are  dis- 
embodied in  very  truth,  and  the  world  is  escaped  into  the 
land  of  visions  ?  Then,  I  truly  ween,  there  will  be  a  scrutiny, 
and  a  self-arraignment  more  severe  than  hath  ever  passed  in 
monkish  cell  or  hermit's  cave.  The  soul  will  unfold  the 
leaves  of  her  experience,  which  since  they  were  engraven 
had  never  before  t)een  turned  out  to  her  inspection.  The  glo- 
rious colours  which  illumined  them  are  gone  ;  the  pomp,  the 
vanity,  the  applause,  the  sensual  joy,  and  there  is  nothing 
left  but  the  blank  and  bare  engraving  upon  the  tablet ;  and 
conscience  is  its  severe  interpreter,  not  worldly  interest,  am- 
bition, or  folly  ;  and  there  is  no  companionship  of  fellows  or 
masters  in  wickedness  to  keep  us  in  heart ;  and  there  is  no 
hope  of  amendment  to  chase  self-accusation,  no  voice  of  con- 
solation, no  preaching  of  recovery,  no  sound  of  salvation : 
all  is  blank  solitude,  spiritual  nakedness,  stark  necessity,  and 
changeless  fate.  The  soul  must  have  an  irksome  time  of  it, 
if  so  be  that  it  hath  lent  no  ear  to  the  admonitions  of  its  bet- 
ter part,  and  to  the  counsels  of  Gqd  which  sustaineth  these. 
It  affrights  me  while  I  write,  to  think  of  it.  I  ask  no  tor- 
ments, such  as  our  immortal  poet  hath  imagined, for  the  dis- 
embodied spirit : — 

To  bathe  in  fiery  floods,  or  to  reside 
In  thrilling'  regions  of  thick-ribbed  ice — 
To  be  imprisoned  in  the  viewless  winds, 
And  blown  with  restless  violence  round  about 
The  pendent  world ;  or  to  be  worse  than  worst 
Of  those,  that  lawless  and  uncertain  thoughts 
Imagine  howling ! 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  193 

Neither  do  I  ask  the  Inferno  of  the  father  of  modern  poetry, 
with  its  seven  circles  of  punish mentSj  downwards  to  the  cen- 
tre, according  to  the  heinousness  of  crime.  These  fancies  I 
give  to  the  poet  and  the  orator,  and  guiding  myself  in  this 
difficult  subject  by  what  light  reason  can  derive  from  observ- 
ing the  present  habitudes  of  the  soul,  I  say  again  it  affrights 
me  while  I  write,  to  think  of  the  souls  of  wicked  men  in  their 
disembodied  state. 

Such  is  the  light  upon  this  difficult  subject  of  the  wicked 
souPs  condition  till  judgment,  which  I  can  derive  from  the 
simple  consideration  of  her  being  separated  from  her  former 
companion,  and  driven  upon  her  spiritual  resdurces  of  re- 
flection and  hope.  But  as  this  is  an  inquiry  which  concerns 
an  important  portion  of  human  destiny,  and  decides  the 
question  of  the  soul's  preparation  for  and  acquiescence  in 
the  judgment,  I  count  it  worth  the  while,  both  for  the  sake  of 
the  argument  and  for  the  further  satisfaction  of  our  mind,  to 
push  this  inquiry  into  the  change  brought  about  by  death,  as 
far  as  our  faculties  can  go  with  clear  discernment. 

I  shall  therefore  take  a  still  wider  circle  of  observation  up- 
on the  nature  of  the  disembodied  soul,  that,  if  possible,  we 
may  stand  in  awe  and  tremble  at  the  terrors  which  must 
seize  and  rack  the  soul  of  the  wicked  in  its  solitary  state  ; 
for  this  is  a  high  argument,  and  worthy  of  many  words.  Ob- 
serve then,  and  study  a  man  who  gives  himself  with  avidity 
to  the  present,  thoughtless  and  indifferent  about  the  coming 
future.  While  things  continue  prosperous,  that  is,  while  the 
appetites  of  the  body  and  the  mind  have  a  sufficient  supply  of 
entertainment  from  the  visible  world,  none  is  more  content- 
ed, more  happy,  more  gay  than  he.  One  part  of  his  nature 
after  another^  he  embarks  upon  the  ocean  of 'things  seen  and 
temporal ;  he  spreadeth  every  sail  to  the  prosperous  winds, 
and  seems  to  every  beholder  a  flourishing  and  noble  sight ; 
and  feeleth  within  himself  (we  deny  it  not)  a  right  cheerful 
and  goodly  frame.  For  why  ?  because  he  is  pleasantly  oc- 
cupied ;  each  winged  wish  hunting  among  the  flowery  haunts 
of  pleasure,  and  bringing  honeyed  sweetness  home.  Now,  to 
this  cheerful  world-loving  man,  let  aught  occur  to  disappoint 
his  out-going  messengers  of  pleasure,  and  drive  them  in  de- 
feated upon  himself;  and  then  remark  the  change.  Let  a 
beloved  wife,  upon  whose  kindly  worth  fondness  did  doat, 
be  cut  off  from  his  embrace,  or  let  a  scheme  of  anibition  in- 
temperately  pursued  miscarry,  or  let  the  vessel  of  his  for- 
tunes be  taken  aback  and  dispersed  upon  the  waste  ocean  of 
adversity  ;  or  even  let  smaller  accidents  occur— «a  rival  get 


194?  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

the  lead  of  public  favour,  a  dishonourable  rumour  go  abroad, 
health  misgive,  and  the  ritual  of  a  sick  bed  be  enforced — 
any  thing,  in  short,  which  may  cast  a  veil  over  the  brilliancy  of 
the  outward  world,  or  induce  a  deafness  upon  the  mind  with- 
in to  the  world's  weary  calls — then  what  happeneth  ?  A  cloud 
scarfeth  up  the  light  ^of  enjoyment,  and  the  world  is  clad  in 
melancholy  weeds.  The  mind,  cometh  home  and  broodeth 
over  its  sorrow  ;  it  looketh  to  the  present  and  findeth  vacan- 
cy ;  a  blank  mist  resteth  upon  its  pleasant  fields,  and  sadness 
reigns  in  the  place  of  joy  ;  it  looks  backwards,  but  finds  no 
cool  reflective  seasons  to  flee  to,  no  forecastings  of  this  dire- 
ful day,  or  instructions  how  to  bear  it ;  no  heartfelt  sympa- 
thy undergone  in  the  grief  of  others :  for  full  engagement 
with  present  things  is  the  death  both  of  sympathy  and  fore- 
sight. In  the  future  there  are  no  vistas  of  hope  to  happier 
regions.  The  only  resource  is  either  to  arm  against  the  world 
and  turn  misant''*ope,  or  to  hurry  fast  as  possible  into  its  ra- 
pids out  01  this  insufferable  calm.  But  if  melancholy  sit 
close,  and  will  not  scatter  before  enjoyment,  and  will  not  sour 
into  scorn  and  derision — if  melancholy  will  sit  close,  then  the 
health  decays  by  soul-consuming  grief,  and  the  candle  of  life 
goes  out  long  before  it  is  burnt  down,  by  reason  of  the  damp 
and  heavy  atmosphere  which  surrounds  it. 

If  then,  I  argue,  to  the  soul  that  is  all  occupied  with  the 
present,  there  cometh  such  discomfiture  from  the  loss  of 
some  one  or  other  of  its  beloved  objects,  what  must  come  to 
pass  at  its  dismemberment  from  friends  and  fortune  and 
bpautiful  world,  and  beloved  body  and  all  visible  tangible 
things !  What  a  wreck  was  there  !  What  a  dispersion  ! 
What  a  spoiled  feast !  What  a  deluged  garden  !  What  a 
solitude  is  this  !  What  wants  are  these  !  What  upstarting 
thoughts  !  What  spiritual  images  of  the  past,  which  rise 
from  the  mists  of  oblivion,  each  one  shaking  his  scourge  ! 
What  gloomy  messengers  from  the  future,  pale  with  the 
fearful  tidings  which  they  bring !  I  say  again,  it  grieves  me 
while  I  write,  to  think  upon  the  misery  of  the  spirit  which  is 
rudely  disembodied  in  the  midst  of  all  its  avocations  with  the 
present  and  thoughtlessness  of  the  past  and  future. 

But  I  must  unveil  and  discover  a  little  more.  When  it 
doth  so  happen,  as  it  doth  most  frequently,  that  upon  the 
season  of  reflection  which  adversity  or  calamity  hath  brought, 
there  invadeth  the  memory  of  past  duties  neglected,  of  good 
feelings  trodden  under  foot,  of  crimes  committed  against  the 
peace  and  welfare  of  others,  of  misconduct  or  mismanage- 
ment, dishonesty,  lavishness,  or  dissipation—then  cometh 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  195 

midnight.  Conscience  ariseth  in  her  might,  and  she  bring* 
eth  such  a  train — stinging  recollections,  burning  shame, 
fruitless  repinings,  self-accusations,  with  all  the  agonies  of  a 
wounded  spirit,  it  is  a  direful  meeting  this,  the  meeting  of 
misfortune  with  an  accusing  conscience,  and  of  its  effects  it 
boots  not  to  describe  ; — the  physician  of  the  heart-broken  can 
tell,  even  Jesus  Christ,  who  alone  availeth  in  such  direful 
seasons  ;  the  asylum  of  lunatics  can  tell ;  the  black  calendar 
of  self  murder  can  tell ;  the  agonies  of  the  breast,  which 
draw  on  to  these  unhinged  states  can  tell ;  the  tragical  events 
of  the  world  can  tell ;  all  melancholy  adventures  of  love  and 
glory,  which  live  in  song  and  popular  tale  over  the  unhappy 
earth,  can  tell ;  to  which  we  refer  the  inquisitive,  being  un- 
willing to  attempt  a  task,  to  think  of  which  almost  maketh 
reason  to  totter  upon  her  throne. 

Now,  I  argue  again,  if  the  consciousness  of  crime,  coupled 
with  the  absence  of  some  cherished  thing,  can  so  scorch  the 
mind  and  scathe  its  fertility  into  a  bleak  and  barren  wilder- 
ness— what,  what  must  happen  when  the  mind  hath  nothing 
to  see  or  hear  or  read  or  talk  of,  no  engagement  but  to  dwell 
alone  and  apart  in  the  chambers  of  her  own  consciousness  ; 
if  so  be  that  she  hath  the  folly,  the  crime,  the  callousness, 
the  contempt  of  conscience,  and  the  contempt  of  God,  du- 
ring a  whole  lifetime,  to  reflect  upon  j  at  the  very  time  she 
hath  lost  every  possession  down  to  the  very  raiment  of  flesh 
and  blood  which  she  was  clothed  withal.  Nothing  equal  to 
this  can  be  conceived,  nothing  second  to  it,  nothing  like  it. 

All  this  disturbance  which  ensues  within  the  breast  when 
its  thoughts  are  driven  inward,  and  which  must  redouble  it- 
self ten  thousand  times  in  the  intense  reviewal  and  medita- 
tion which  filleth  up  the  long  and  dreary  season  between 
life's  setting  sun  and  the  breaking  of  the  resurrection  morn, 
doth  arise  from  not  giving  to  the  past  and  the  future  that  high 
consideration  to  which  we  have  shown  them  to  be  entitled  ; 
and  the  only  defence  there  is  against  such  tides  and  tumults 
of  the  mind,  is  to  have  the  past  as  well  reviewed  and  the  fu- 
ture as  well  provided  for  as  it  is  given  us  to  have.  For 
Mobile  the  present  is  the  lord  of  the  ascendant,  the  mind  suf- 
fers a  sort  of  tyrannical  usurpation.  The  giant  powers  of 
the  past  and  future,  by  far  her  noblest  faculties,  are  under 
imprisonment,  from  which  they  come  forth,  when  the  speli 
of  the  priesent  is  broken,  and  do  destruction  upon  our  peace  ; 
the  soul  suffers  an  insurrection  of  the  powers  of  reason  and 
principle  against  ihe  seated  and  established  powers  of  habit. 


196  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.^ 

which  often  doth  not  end  without  the  most  direful  effects 
upon  both  the  body  and  the  mind. 

This  side  of  the  picture  we  shall  examine  no  further,  for 
it  grows  wearisome  and  painful ;  but  it  remains  that,  in  jus- 
tice to  the  subject,  we  open  up  the  other  side,  and  trace  out, 
by  alike  method  of  analysis,  the  preparation  in  life  and  con- 
dition at  death  which  are  likely  to  endure  under  this  total 
bereavement  of  all  present  things.  And  here  again  we  shall 
follow  the  same  method  of  inquiry,  as  the  only  one  that  is 
competent  to  such  a  question,  proceeding  from  the  smaller 
to  the  greater,  from  the  part  to  the  whole,  upon  the  principle 
that  whatever  serves  to  re-establish  the  soul  under  the  par- 
tial eclipses  of  its  present  state,  will  be  most  likely  to  sustain 
it  under  that  total  eclipse  which  cometh  over  it  at  the  disso- 
lution of  the  body.  Pascal,  in  his  Thoughts  upon  Reli- 
gion, most  truly  and  beautifully  remarks,  that  the  death  of 
every  relative,  the  loss  of  every  temporal  good,  the  extinc- 
tion of  every  worldly  delight,  is,  as  it  were,  a  partial  death 
done  upon  ourselves,  a  loss  of  one  or  other  of  our  members 
upon  the  earth  ;  and  is  sent  by  God  as  an  experiment,  in  or- 
der to  prove  how  we  shall  be  able  to  bear  the  annihilation  of 
them  all.  Therefore  as  we  have  from  such  vicissitudes  as- 
certained the  sting  which  follows  death,  so  from  the  same 
we  may  ascertain  the  consolation  and  joy  which  follow  death. 
In  this  inquiry  into  the  experience  of  the  disembodied  soul, 
we  follow  the  method  which  the  mathematicians  do  in  their 
higher  calculations ;  from  certain  partial  changes  which  are 
given  in  one  state  of  the  variable  quantity,  we  ascertain  the 
amount  of  the  change  in  another  state  of  the  variable  quantity, 
and  present  the  latter  in  a  function  of  the  former. 

Let  us  then  contemplate,  what  sustains  the  spirit  of  a  man 
under  the  removal  of  those  things  upon  which  his  desire  is 
set  here  below,  that  we  may  gather,  what  will  support  his 
soul  when  bereaved  of  all  its  corporeal  possessions  and  en- 
joyments. When  a  beloved  object  is  removed,  there  is  for 
a  season  within  the  soul  a  sense  of  emptiness,  as  if  really  a 
part  of  herself  had  been  torn  away.  Into  this  empty  chamber 
she  retireth  to  dwell  alone.  Engagements  and  pleasures, 
and  discourse  of  friends,  are  for  a  while  foregone.  Inaction 
of  body,  abstraction  of  mind,  a  fixed  eye  and  a  sealed  spirit 
go  with  us,  and  cleave  unto  us  like  our  shadow.  "  Farewell 
the  tranquil  mind  !  Farewell  content !"  But  by  degrees  na- 
ture recovers  from  the  blow  which  had  stunned  her  powers, 
and  then  her  first  employment  is  to  look  bick  into  the  annals 
of  the  past,  when  her  delight  was  with  the  departed  object  of 


OF   JUDGMENT    TO    COME.  197 

her  love  ;  and  if  she  finds  that  she  had  treated  it  well,  that 
she  had  honoured  it  in  the  highest  place,  and  made  of  it  the 
most  account ;  that  its  memory  is  associated  with  duties  per- 
formed, and  kind  offices  discharged  ;  that  she  can  ruminate 
upon  virtuous  and  innocent  and  happy  intercourse,  and  dis- 
course with  contentment  and  gratification  of  all  that  passed 
between  them ;  that  there  is  no  invasion  of  repentance  nor 
remorse,  for  arrears  of  love  unpaid,  or  overtures  of  advan- 
tage unaccepted  :  then  she  hath  a  consolation,  and  to  memo- 
ry she  fleeth  as  to  a  city  of  refuge.     The  object  gone  gelteth 
a  second  life,  it  liveth  in  those  parts  of  the  mind  which  dwell 
with  the  past ;  in  the  season  of  stillness  it  cometh  up  and 
keepeth  us  company,  it  riseth  up  like  a  spirit  in  the  places 
where  we  sojourned  together,  it  cometh  to  us  in  visions  of 
the  night,  when  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  man,  invested  with 
those  same  attributes  of  love  and  joy  which  it  wore  towards 
us  in  our  earthly  converse,  and  which  it  weareth  still  in  the 
converse  of  memory.     But  besides  living  with  the  past,  it 
liveth  also  with  the  present,  in  the  affections  which  it  culti- 
vated, in  the  good  habits  which  it  strengthened,  and  the  good 
interests  which  it  hath  secured ;  when  we  rejoice  over  the 
good  and  worthy  part  of  our  nature,  it  shareth  in  our  joy  ; 
and  when  we  pursue  the   honourable  paths  to  which  it  ac- 
companied us  once,  it  accompanieth  us  still ;  and  when  we 
tend  alone  the  cares  to  which  it  once  gave  us  aid,  we  reflect 
upon  its  councils    and   walk  in  its   footsteps.      An    object 
therefore  which  hath  been  rightly  used,  continues  to  have  a 
share  of  the  happy,  holy  parts  of  our  life,  and  is  as  it  were 
only  cut  off  from  the  senses,  but  to  the  spirit  is  present  as 
before.     To  these  two  we  join,  if  it  be  possible,  the  antici- 
pation of  beholding  it  again — we  seek  to  give  it  a  life  in  those 
parts  of  the  soul  which  hold  converse  with  the  future  ;  and 
it  is  unspeakable  the  consolation  which  comes  from  any  sha- 
dow of  hope  in  this  direction.     This  poureth  life  anew  into 
the  chambers  of  death,  and  eternity  into  the  moulds  of  time. 
Death  loseth  his  siing,  and  the  grave  her  victory,  and  mor- 
tality is  swallowed  up  in  life.     We  seem  to  hear  the  depart- 
ed spirit  inviting  us  to  come  and  be  joined  to  its  fellowship, 
to  hasten  and  come  unto  our  rest.     Death  is  a  journey  from 
friends  to  friends,  life  a  visit  amongst  friends,  and  death  a 
return  to  our  friends. 

These  are  the  only  essential  consolations  which  we  have 
within  ourselves  for  an  object  removed  from  our  sight,  and 
it  is  manifest  they  can  be  partaken  only  by  those  who,  not 
engrossed  with  the  present,  have  given  themselves  mucih  up 

25i 


198  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COMk. 

to  the  past  and  the  future  ;  viz.  by  the  children  of  reflection 
and  of  hope.  Now  the  mind  hath  no  pleasure  in  reflection, 
unless  it  hath  attended  to  the  calls  of  vii^ue  and  of  goodness, 
and  given  ear  to  its  sense  of  right,  from  vi^hatever  quarter 
derived,  whether  from  the  light  of  nature,  or  from  the  word 
of  God  ;  for  if  we  have  held  down  the  better  sentiments  of 
our  breast  and  given  loose  to  the  worse,  then  reflection  will 
be  painful  while  man  is  man,  and  being  painful  will  be  dili- 
gently eschewed,  so  long  as  there  is  a  gleaning  of  enjoyment 
from  the  present.  Neither  will  hope  spring  within  a  mind 
whose  memory  festers  with  wounds,  but  despair  rather,  and 
wrecklessness  of  all  conclusions.  On  this  account,  as  hath 
been  argued  at  large  in  a  former  part  of  this  Discourse,  the 
Gospel  dispensation  salveth  the  wounds  of  memory,  and 
coucheth  the  eye  of  hope  ere  it  ever  makes  request  for  a 
hearing.  This  dispensation,  therefore,  and  wherever  this  is 
absent,  the  consciousness  within  the  breast  of  good  and  up- 
right conduct,  will  encourage  the  reflective  and  hopeful  fa- 
culties of  a  man  to  display  themselves,  and  bring  him  into 
the  capacity  of  drinking  from  those  rivers  of  consolation  de- 
scribed above.  But  where  the  Gospel  constitution,  being 
Icnown,  is  despised  and  contravened,  or  where,  not  being 
known,  the  admonitions  of  wisdom  and  goodness  within  the 
breast  are  trampled  under  foot,  these  rivers  of  consolation 
can  never  be  tasted,  and  until  repentance  and  reformation  of 
life  ensue,  they  will  mock  our  parched  lips.  So  that  they 
appertain  exclusively  to  the  righteous ;  under  the  Gospel,  to 
its  believing  servants ;  without  the  Gospel,  to  the  servants 
of  the  good  law  written  on  their  hearts. 

Furthermore,  another  thing  which  sustaineth  the  spirit  of 
a  man  wounded  by  the  dispensations  of  God,  is  the  convic- 
tion that  they  are  the  dispensations  of  God,  meant  for  health, 
however  bitterly  they  taste.  This  is  a  sublime  consolation, 
which  none  but  the  pious  and  resigned  can  reach,  but  being 
reached,  it  is  to  grief  an  elixir  of  life.  It  springs  not  so 
much  from  an  act  of  faith  at  the  afflicted  season,  as  from  the 
constant  habit  of  receiving  every  good  gift  from  the  hand 
of  God,  and  holding  it  in  loan  until  it  please  him  to  call  it 
up  again — taking  the  bestowal  in  pledge  of  his  goodness,  and 
the  removal  in  trial  of  our  fidelity  and  trust.  Looking  upon 
the  whole  vicissitudes  of  Providence  as  a  correspondence 
between  us  and  our  Father  in  a  far  country,  which  he  wisely 
arrangeth  so  as  to  call  into  lively  exercise  every  sentiment 
of  dutiful  children,  we  feel  a  constant  fortitude  and  firmness, 
and  what  is  more  a  constant  activity  of  mind,  to  read  the 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  199 

several  communications,  and  interpret  their  contents  of  good, 
and  make  the  needful  arrangements  for  realizing  the  same. 
The  seal  is  often  black,  and  the  signet  full  of  fear,  and  with 
a  trembling,  hand  we  break  the  cover  and  unfold  the  con- 
tents, and  our  hearts  die  within  us  while  we  peruse  the  sor- 
rowful tidings  ;  for  the  present  it  is  not  joyous  but  grievous: 
yet  in  the  end  it  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteous- 
ness, when  our  minds  have  been  exercised  therewiih. 

Now  this  source  of  consolation  is  manifestly  one  with 
which  the  wicked  and  impious  do  not  intermeddle,  forasmuch 
as  it  cannot  be  grasped  at  once,  but  succeeds  to  a  habit  of  re- 
garding the  intentions  of  Providence  in  our  lot.  They  only 
have  it,  who  see  all  things  in  God,  and  taste  all  things  in 
God,  who  in  him  live  and  move  and  breathe  and  have  their 
being,  who,  whether  they  eat  or  drink,  or  whatever  they  do, 
do  all  to  his  glory.  Often  hath  it  been  my  lot  to  offer  it  to 
ungodly  people  ;  they  listened,  but  it  was  a  vocal  sound 
which  made  no  stay  ;  and  if  they  sought  to  taste,  it  was  an 
apple  of  Sodom  which  to  them  had  but  a  painted  rind,  or 
fairy  gold  which  dissolved  into  dust,  or  changed  to  idle 
leaves.  The  people,  therefore,  whose  god  is  earthly  honour 
or  glory,  or  riches,  or  luxury,  or  self-aggrandizement  of  any 
kind,  and  who  take  the  goods  that  God  provideth  them  from 
the  hands  of  good  fortune,  or  the  patronage  of  great  men,  or 
their  own.deservings,  and  use  them,  while  they  tarry,  to  gra- 
tify and  build  up  the  parts  of  nature  to  which  the  merit  of 
them  is  given,  must,  when  these  props  of  their  good  estate 
misgive,  feel  tottering  upon  that  side  which  they  sustained ; 
and,  when  they  pass  away,  they  must  feel  disabled,  even  ac- 
cording to  the  measure  of  trust  which  they  reposed  on  them, 
and  discomforted  according  to  the  measure  of  enjoyment 
which  they  derived  from  that  quarter  of  their  being.  They 
have  no  resource,  that  I  can  see,  but  passively  to  endure. 
Blank  patience,  without  any  thing  to  be  patient  for,  which 
surely  is  the  most  intolerable  of  all  things,  as  saith  the  scathed 
soul  of  Faustus  in  the  German  poet. 

Finally ;  a  third  resource,  which  the  mind  hath  in  such 
troubled  seasons,  is  to  repose  upon  that  which  is  not  and 
cannot  be  removed.  The  shock  given  by  a  great  bereave- 
ment, produpeth  upon  the  mind  a  kindred  feeling  with  the 
shock  of  an  earthquake.  All  seems  unhinged,  all  places 
equally  insecure  .  We  flee  in  one  direction,  the  earth  trem- 
bles, we  pause  a?  id  flee  in  the  opposite  ;  we  are  running  from 
destruction,  and  we  feel  as  if  we  were  running  into  its  jaws. 
So  disaster  and  bereavement  shake  the  soul  in  all  its  cham- 


200  Ot  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

bers  as  an  earthquake  shakes  the  earth,  and  for  a  while  we 
feel  as  if  the  foundations  of  all  visible  enjoyment  were  broken 
up,  and  the  links  of  all  affection  torn  asunder.  At  such  a 
season,  it  is  comfort  unspeakable  to  have  something  which 
cannot  be  removed  whereon  to  repose.  Such  a  refuge  hath 
the  mind  in  the  things  of  the  world  to  come,  over  which 
change  hath  not  any  power.  "  None  of  these  things  move 
me,  so  that  I  may  finish  my  course  with  joy."  "  God  is  our 
refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  the  time  of  trou- 
ble. Therefore  will  we  not  fear  though  the  earth  be  remov- 
ed, and  though  the  mountains  be  cast  into  the  midst  of  the 
sea.  Though  the  waters  thereof  roar  and  be  troubled, 
though  the  mountains  shake  with  the  swelling  thereof.  There 
is  a  river  whose  streams  do  make  glad  the  city  of  our  God, 
the  holy  place  of  the  tabernacles  of  the  Most  High:  Gf>d  is 
in  the  midst  of  her,  she  shall  not  be  moved." 

These  three  things,  the  embalming  of  the  object  lost  to 
sense  in  memory  and  hope,  the  consciousness  of  good  ends 
subserved  by  its  removal,  the  assurance  of  better  things 
which  cannot  be  removed,  are  a  sort  of  sacred  tripod  to  the 
spirit  which  no  shock  from  earth  or  hell  can  overturn.  They 
give  her  a  terrible  strength  before  which  .all  pains  of  soul 
and  body  are  harmless,  and  all  tyrant  inflictions  defeated. 
In  dungeons,  thus  sustained,  she  hath  a  joy,  which  the  brave 
Haxtoun  declared  to  be  above  the  enjoyment  of  life's  love- 
liest places.  Martyrs  have  become  unconscious  to  the  cruel- 
lest tortures,  and  in  a  divine  heat  of  bravery  have  rushed 
again  to  meet  them.  And  in  these  quieter  times,  orphans  and 
widows  and  afflicted  people  of  every  name  take  refuge  there- 
on, and  bear  calamities  with  a  magnanimity  to  which  know- 
ledge and  philosophy  and  sentiment  are  strangers  ;  and  sea- 
sons of  affliction  become  pregnant  with  the  greatest  advan- 
tage ;  and  they  know  the  joy  of  grief,  about  which  senti- 
mental writers  do  but  prate.  One  by  one  they  resign  the 
spirits  of  their  dearest  kindred  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord's 
tender  mercy.  One  by  one  they  deposit  their  earthly  taber- 
nacle in  the  silent  tomb,  and  while  the  tears  of  nature  follow 
the  much-beloved  object,  their  spirits  rise  to  heaven,  and 
hold  communion  with  the  spirit  that  is  gone,  and  long  for 
the  happy  day  when  they  also,  being  dismantled,  shall  join 
it  in  the  realms  of  immortal  bliss. 

Now  to  apply  the  above  reasoning  to  the  great  bereave- 
ment of  death,  which  is  the  thing  in  question.  When  death 
arrives,  we  are  parted  from  the  body,  from  the  world,  and 
from  the  beloved  of  our  souls  which  dwell  thereon  ;  and  are 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  *197 

left  in  a  state  of  intense  self-consciousness  and  solitary  thought, 
I  know  not  what  God  may  have  provided  for  the  immediate 
enjoyment  or  suffering  of  our  spirits  in  the  world  of  spirits. 
That  is  not  revealed,  because  it  would  not.be  intelligible  if  it 
were  ;  seeing  we  have  not  an  idea,  and  cannot  have,  of  spi- 
ritual existence  or  employment  by  any  other  way  than  that 
which  I  am  following  out — our  own  interior  thoughts  and 
feelings.  We  have  suffered,  I  say,  such  a  loss  of  the  body 
and  the  earth,  and  the  beloved  companions  of  our  pilgri- 
mage ;  and  what  is  there,  to  sustain  and  comfort  our  spirits 
under  this  bereavement,^  save  the  three  great  consolations 
mentioned  above  ?  If  we  have  used  our  body  for  strength- 
ening in  the  soul  temperance  and  self-command,  and  build- 
ing up  active  habits  of  well-doing ;  if  we  have  used  the 
world  as  a  stage  or  theatre,  on  which  to  carry  these  into  ef- 
fect, conversing  with  visible  things  modestly,  and  using 
them  for  the  wholesome  ends  of  our  own  edification  in  god- 
liness, and  the  advancement  of  God's  glory  ;  and  if  with  the 
beloved  kindred  of  our  souls  we  have  lived  in  peace  and 
fraternity,  joining  with  them  all  chaste  and  affectionate 
unions,  sharpening  them  to  good  feeling  as  iron  sharpeneth 
iron,  and  provoking  them  to  good  works ; — then  the  soul 
will  be  filled  through  all  her  regions  with  satisfaction,  and 
muse  with  delight  upon  that  which  she  hath  left  behind. 
Add  to  this  the  second  consolation,  of  being  in  her  Crea- 
tor's merciful  hands,  to  whom  she  is  resigned,  and  to  whose 
near  neighbourhood  she  knoweth  she  is  approaching.  I 
I  know  not,  I  speculate  not  upon,  the  new  unions  which  the 
soul  will  have  when  these  carnal  veils  are  taken  off.  But 
much,  much  are  we  taught  to  hope  for.  We  are  represent- 
ed in  this  state  as  being  all  but  drifted  out  of  reach  of  the 
Divine  favour,  which  was  not  rejoined  but  by  the  sternest 
adventure  of  mercy  ;  and  death  being  past,  we  get  as  it  were 
out  of  the  cold  and  frozen  regions  of  our  present  condition, 
and,  by  means  I  know  not,  are  transformed  into  a  holy  com- 
munion with  the  celestials.  But,  though  all  unconscious 
how  it  is  to  be  with  her,  I  know  the  soul  of  the  righteous 
doth  drop  as  it  were  asleep  into  the  lap  of  God,  and  they  have 
ravishments  of  delight  between  sleeping  and  waking — ima- 
ges of  glory  from  the  other  side,  signs  and  beckonings,  and 
triumphant  frames  which  cast  the  by-standers  into  silent 
wonder. 

In  short,  (for  we  wander  without  bounds  in  this  sea  of 
discourse,)  from   all  these  considerations  which  have  been 


198*  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

mentioned,  and  many  more,  to  mention  which  would  make 
this  digression  disproportionate  to  the  measure  of  the  whole 
discourse,  it  seemeth  to  me  that  death  hath  no  sooner 
planted  his  pale  signet  upon  the  cold  brow  of  our  body,  than 
a  first  initiatory  judgment  hath  us  in  its  hold,  a  first  paradise, 
or  a  first  hell  instantly  ensueth.  All  the  past  comes  floating 
down,  and  all  the  future  comes  bearing  up ;  they  near  us, 
they  possess  us,  and  the  soul  is  engirdled  as  it  were  in  a 
ring  of  events  touching  her  on  every  side,  and  communica- 
ting each  one  a  stound  of  pain  or  a  relish  of  joy.  And  there 
she  lieth  slaughtered  by  their  many  wounds  or  ravished  by 
their  many  pleasures,  and  so  remaineth  in  a  kind  of  trance 
of  misery  or  ecstacy,  till  the  resurrection  morn.  She 
dwelleth  evermore  in  the  ethereal  temperament  of  sweet  re- 
collections and  sweet  anticipations,  brightened  into  the  bril- 
liancy of  present  enjoyments,  without  any  touch  of  their 
instability  and  grossness — the  spirit  as  it  were  of  every 
past  excellence,  and  the  spirit  of  every  future  excellence 
drawing  near,  and  holding  communion  with  our  spirits ; 
or  else  the  sorrow  of  every  past  sin,  and  the  bitter  twang 
of  every  past  indulgence,  the  gall  and  wormwood  of  ev- 
ery dalliance  with  levity  and  folly  and  lust,  the  daughters 
of  unrighteousness,  the  remorse  of  every  crime,  the  stingof 
every  untamed  passion,  and  the  thirst  of  every  raging  appe- 
tite, all  these  come  down  from  the  past ;  while  from  the 
cloudy  future  come  bearing  up  the  mist  of  every  prejudice, 
and  the  gloom  of  departed  honours,  and  the  grief  of  happi- 
ness for  ever  foregone,  and  th^  terrors  of  hopelessness  and 
the  agonies  of  despair — the  spirits  of  all  the  furies  which 
people  hell,  with  the  legion  which  peoples  this  world,  come 
together  to  revel  it  upon  our  disengaged  soul — those  that 
dwell  back  with  conscience,  those  that  dwell  forward  with 
fear,  come  fanching  down  to  make  a  prey  of  our  poor  unre- 
generate  soul.  It  seemeth  to  me  as  if  the  spirit,  when  it  left 
the  body,  and  did  no  longer  tabernacle  or  converse  with  mat- 
ter, hath  its  conversation  with  the  spirits  of  all  past  events  in 
its  experience,  and  all  future  events  in  its  anticipation,  and 
doth  lie  diffused  over  them  all  in  a  purest  heaven  of  delight 
or  a  saddest  hell  of  grief,  according  as  they  are  good  and 
hopeful,  or  bad  and  gloomy.  Sensation,  that  clouds  the  me- 
mory of  the  past  and  dims  the  anticipation  of  the  future,  is 
no  more.  The  present  world  is  no  more,  the  animal  part  of 
man  is  no  more,  the  knowing  part  of  man  which  held  con- 
verse with  the  accidents  and  changes  of  this  world,  is  no 


OF  JUDGMENT  Tfl  COME,  ^199 

more.  Nothing  is  left  but  the  moral  and  spiritual  part  of 
man,  to  make  the  best  of  that  knowledge  of  eternity  and  the 
Eternal  which  it  hath,  of  that  love  or  hatred  of  eternity  and 
the  Eternal  which  it  hath.  It  lancheth  out  of  the  world  of 
sensual  pleasures,  out  of  the  world  of  visible  beauties,  out 
of  the  world  of  proud  ambitions,  out  of  the  world  of  ava- 
ricious accumulation,  out  of  the  world  of  manual  and  instru- 
mental employments — And  whither  is  it  gone  ?  into  the  spi- 
ritual world,  whither  nothing  of  all  this  can  follow  ;  and 
what  remaineth  but  disappointment,  tedium,  shame,  con- 
fusion of  face,  and  every  spiritual  agony  ;  unless  while  liv- 
ing in  the  midst  of  these  same  worlds  of  occupation  she  was 
not  blinded  and  befooled  and  brutified  by  them,  but  kept  a 
sacred  reverence  for  her  moral  and  spiritual  part,  reserving 
the  best  of  every  feeling,  and  the  essence  of  every  thought, 
and  the  first  fruits  of  every  enjoyment,  to  God  her  creator 
and  her  preserver,  and  soon  to  be  her  judge. 

Such  are  our  views  of  the  state  of  the  soul  after  death, 
drawn  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  greater  number,  from  ob- 
servations made  upon  the  soul  in  her  present  condition,  and 
which  we  may  now  confirm  for  the  special  edification  of  the 
Believer  by  revelation,  so  far  as  it  enters  into  this  mysteri- 
ous subject.  Here  must  stand,  in  the  first  place,  the  parable 
of  Lazarus  and  the  rich  man,  revealing  their  several  fates 
after  dissolution,  which  are  to  be  conceived  as  emblems  of 
the  repose  and  fiery  torture  their  spirits  did  endure  ;  the 
promise  to  the  penhent  thief  upon  the  cross,  of  being  that 
very  night  in  paradise  ;  the  entrancing  of  St.  Paul,  when  he 
beheld  and  felt  things  unutterable  ;  the  visions  of  John,  in 
which  he  beheld  the  blessedness  of  the  saints  ;  and  the  con- 
stant allusion  through  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  to 
the  judgment  and  coming  of  Christ  as  immediately  at  hand  ; 
of  which  more  hereafter. 

All  these  passages  give  offe  reason  to  suppose  that,  be- 
sides the  sort  of  passive  consequence  of  death  described 
above,  there  may  be  some  consequences  of  an  active  kind 
which  we  are  not  able  to  comprehend  ;  that  there  may  be 
faculties  by  which  our  spirits  may  taste  the  communion  of 
other  incorporate  spirits,  that  they  may  be  introduced  to  the 
angels  and  cherubims  and  seraphims  of  glory,  and  by  them 
conducted  to  their  balmy  seats  of  bliss — borne  along  with 
them  through  airy  space  on  errands  and  behests  of  God,  ta- 
kon  into  their  pleasant  associations,  and  trained  like  a  younger 


SOO^  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

sister  in  all  the  happy  avocations  of  their  being  ;  or  that  the 
righteous  may  be  separated  to  a  settlement  of  their  own,  to 
have  spiritual  enjoyment  with  each  other,  of  which  we  can- 
not have  the  shadow  of  a  thought — while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  souls  of  the  wicked  may  be  delivered  up  to  the  mastery 
of  spirits  reprobate,  and  left  in  their  disembodied  state  to 
their  mercy,  to  be  by  them  used  and  abused  in  ten  thousand 
■ways,  to  which  the  material  earth  is  altogether  strange.  But 
into  these  regions,  which  belong,  as  hath  been  said,  to  the 
poet  and  the  orator,  the  conductor  of  an  argument  hath  not 
any  right  to  enter. 

During  the  long  interval,  therefore,  from  the  stroke  of 
death  till  the  trump  of  God  shall  ring  in  death's  astonished 
ear,  the  soul  is,  as  it  were,  by  the  necessity  of  her  existence, 
forced  to  engage  herself  with  the  work  of  self-examination 
and  self-trial,  according  to  the  best  standard  which  during 
life  she  knew.  If  she  was  enlightened  upon  the  divine  con- 
stitution, then,  according  to  the  rules  thereof,  she  will  ex- 
amine herself,  and  soon  ascertain  whether  she  held  it  in  re- 
verence and  took  the  appointed  measures  to  obey  it,  or 
whether  she  cast  it  behind  her  back  and  trod  it  under  foot. 
If,  again,  she  had  no  revelation  of  God,  but  had  to  depend 
on  the  light  of  Nature  alone,  then  she  will  try  herself  ac- 
cording to  that  light,  and  discover  whether  she  made  virtue 
or  vice  her  delight,  good  or  evil  her  god.  If  she  groaned 
under  the  bondage  of  false  religion,  and  was  deluded  by  su- 
perstition out  of  reason's  hands,  even  then,  whatever  she  be- 
lieved in  her  conscience  to  be  right,  to  that  rule  she  will 
bring  herself  during  this  season  of  abstracted  meditation. 
For  in  every  country  and  state  of  mankind  there  is  a  line  of 
division  between  the  good  and  the  bad,  between  the  worthy 
and  the  worthless,  which  represents  outwardly  the  inward 
sense  which  that  people  hath  of  a  right  and  a  wrong  side  of 
human  character.  By  this,  whatever  it  is,  however  imper- 
fect, however  weak,  however  erroneous,  we  judge  that  each 
soul  of  every  kindred  and  nation  and  tongue  upon  the  earth 
will  be  employed  during  the  long  intermediate  state  in  ex- 
amining itself,  and  suffering  or  enjoying  according  to  the  na- 
ture of  its  reflections. 

Now,  forasmuch  as  that  man  hath  never  been  heard  of, 
who  could,  in  his  cool,  dispassionate  moments,  look  back  and 
reflect  upon  his  life  without  a  feeling  of  its  unprofitableness, 
compared  with  what  it  might  and  should  have  been^ — foras- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  1501 

much  as  that  man  hath  never  lived,  whose  trials  and  besetting 
ills  did  form  to  his  reflective  mind  an  apology  for  his  short- 
comings and  misdemeanours;  but  all  men,  since  Adam,  have 
condemned'  themselves  before  even  their  embodied  soul, 
when  they  took  themselves  to  strict  inquisition — how  much 
more  will  they  blame,  how  much  less  apologize  before  thfeir 
disembodied  soul,  when  every  temptation  of  vanity,  when 
every  blind  of  passion  and  every  avocation  of  thought  which 
the  body  and  the  visible  world  cast  in,  is  removed,  and  they 
are  left  solitary  as  in  a  wilderness,  serious  and  sober  as  in 
the  presence  of  God,  stricken  by  death  out  of*  a  thousand 
misleading  visions,  and  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  forlorn 
abjectness  !  Each  soul  thus  immersed  in  its  ruminations, 
plunged  and  absorbed  in  its  own  conscious  being,  must  accu- 
mulate a  vast  sense  of  its  sinfulness,  and  a  fearful  apprehen- 
sion of  the  issue.  Happy,  happy  those,  who  have  strong- 
holds of  faith  into  which  to  turn,  and  know  of  a  Saviour  from 
that  conscious  guilt,  under  which  every  one,  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile, Scythian,  bond,  and  free,  must  feel  himself  oppressed. 
They  can  deal  with  their  overwhelming  feelings,  and  they 
alone.  I  do  not  say  that  they  alone  shall  pass  the  judgment 
•—that  is  another  question  from  which  we  studiously  refrain. 
But  surely  they  alone  know  in  this  life  how  that  sinfulness  is 
to  be  wiped  away,  and  therefore,  unless  after  death  some  per- 
ceptions of  a  Saviour  should  be  revealed  to  the  virtuous  of 
other  communions,  of  which  we  speculate  not,  they  must  lie 
absorbed  in  their  heavy  consciousness  of  guilt,  with  a  fearful 
looking  for  of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation. 

Now  then,  in  these  beds,  all  dissolved  in  fear,  and  some 
conscious  of  hope,  the  spirits  of  the  departed  lie ;  and 
shrouded  in  mortality,  or  absorbed  back  again  into  matter's 
various  forms,  remain  the  bodies  of  the  departed,  until  the 
archangel  and  the  trump  of  God  shall  sound  the  dread  sum- 
mons through  the  chambers  of  nature  and  the  abodes  of  the 
separated  soul ;  whence  they  shall  come  and  meet,  and  being 
once  more  by  the  power  of  God  conjoined,  these  two  ancient 
comrades  shall  form  again  one  conscious  frame  of  being, 
and  take  their  joyful  or  heavy  way,  every  living  mortal,  to 
the  bar  and  judgment-seat  of  God. 

This  digression  into  the  separate  state  of  the  soul,  may 
seem  to  many  out  of  place  and  out  of  proportion ;  but,  be- 
sides being  the  only  way  of  showing  howthie  spirit  comes  up 
to  the  bar  clothed  in  consciousness  of  the  past,  and  able  to 

26 


202  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

acquiesce  in  the  future,  it  doth  also  give  truth  and  meaning 
to  a  form  of  speaking  concerning  judgment  most  common  in 
the  Scriptures,  but  most  unfrequent  in  these  our  days.  By 
us  the  judgment  is  always  regarded  as  infinitely  far  off, 
whereas  by  the  Apostles  it  is  regarded  as  close  at  hand,  just 
forthcoming.  Paul,  in  describing  the  fate  of  those  who  were 
to  be  alive  at  the  time,  includes  himself  among  the  number-— 
*'  We  who  are  alive  and  remain,  shall  be  caught  up  together 
with  them  in  the  clouds."  And  Peter  and  James  and  John, 
no  less  than  Paul,  give  this  second  coming  of  the  Lord  in 
judgment  a  prominency  and  a  frequency  in  their  writings 
above  almost  every  other  consideration,  and  constantly  ap- 
peal to  it  as  the  great  fund  of  patience,  and  the  great  motive 
to  continue  in  welUdoing.  Now  the  Apostles  were  not  igno- 
rant of  the  space  which  was  to  intervene,  for  they  have  pro- 
phesied of  their  own  death,  of  the  latter  times,  of  the  bring- 
ing in  of  the  Jews  with  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles,  and  of 
all  that  has  happened  since,  and  of  much  that  is  still  to  hap- 
pen ;  and  yet,  knowing  of  the  ages  to  run,  they  nevertheless 
represented  the  end  of  all  things  as  at  hand. 

We  moderns  have  altogether  departed  from  this  manner 
of  speech,  and  the  second  coming  of  Christ  is  lost  from  the 
number  of  our  motives,  because  the  day  of  judgment  is 
placed  afar  off.  Death  must  come,  and  many  generations 
of  men  fill  our  room,  and  our  ashes  must  be  scattered  on  a 
thousand  winds,  and  millennial  ages  must  run  their  course, 
before  the  trumpet  of  the  archangel  sound  to  judgment.  Now, 
while  the  day  of  judgment  is  thus  set  infinitely  remote,  and  a 
state  of  existence  is  interposed  where  joys  and  sufferings 
they  venture  not  to  set  forth,  the  mind  will  do  with  it  as  it 
does  with  death  while  it  considers  it  at  a  distance,  think 
nothing  of  it  at  all.  For  it  is  not  the  certainty  of  a  thing 
which  gives  it  power  over  the  mind,  otherwise  death,  which 
is  the  most  certain  of  all  things,  would  be  the  most  influential 
of  all  things ;  whereas  it  is  to  most  men  less  influential  than 
a  journey  to  a  foreign  land  or  the  shifting  of  their  residence 
at  home.  It  is  the  frequent  presence  of  a  thought  in  the 
mind  which  gives  it  power,  and  that  frequency  will  seldom 
happen  to  a  thing  that  is  not  looked  for  till  after  a  time.  Pre- 
sent things,  or  things  hard  at  hand,  are  what  occupy  the  soul; 
and  until  death  comes  to  be  so  regarded,  it  gets  no  purchase 
over  our  conduct.  But  when  one  is  brought  to  a  right  view 
of  his  frailty  and  mortality,  and  every  morning  sets  out  as  on 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  203 

a  perilous  voyage,  every  evening  lays  him  down  as  into  a 
grave  ;  then,  though  death  be  made  no  more  certain  than 
before,  it  comes  to  prevail  over  the  things  which  are  seen, 
and  to  draw  the  solemnity  and  carefulness  of  a  death-bed 
hour  over  every  scene  of  business  and  of  enjoyment.  IJp 
also  of  the  judgment ;  while  it  is  considered  not  only  as  be- 
hind death,  but  far,  far  beyond  it,  it  will  be  as  unmoving  as 
death,  and  will  not  carry  any  weight,  until,  like  death,  it  be 
brought  into  the  fore-front  of  things,  and  have  a  chance  in 
the  fray  of  contending  interests  and  contending  emotions 
which  passes  in  the  mind  perpetually.  Shall  we  then  preach 
the  end  of  the  world  as  at  hand,  and  the  sound  of  the  trum- 
pet as  ready  to  awake  us  every  morning  from  our  beds,  and 
the  regeneration  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  as  about  to  be 
revealed  ?  The  Apostles  did  so,  who  uttered  those  very  pro- 
phecies which  are  all  our  security  that  the  world  is  to  last 
another  hour.  They  knew  the  events  that  were  to  intervene, 
and  they  made  them  known  to  us ;  and  yet  you  see  they 
preached  as  if  nothing  were  to  intervene  at  all.  But  we, 
who  do  but  lamely  interpret  their  prophecies,  are  so  built 
upon  our  interpretations,  and  so  assured  of  the  things  we 
guess  about,  hardly  two  agreeing ;  that  we  pluck  up  heart, 
and  cast  off  the  daily  apprehensions  of  the  Apostles,  and 
preach  boldly,  as  if  the  world  were  to  last  out  our  day,  and 
the  day  of  our  children,  and  of  many  generations  yet  to  arise  ! 
This  is  one  instance  among  many  of  the  total  inequality  of 
our  modern  preaching  to  the  Apostolic  pattern,  and  how 
great  scriptural  ideas  have  been  completely  lost  in  the  heed 
which  the  churches  have  given  to  their  sectarian  distinctions. 
This  discordance  between  the  Apostolical  and  the  modern 
theology,  we  confess,  was  the  first  thing  that  drew  our  atten- 
tion to  the  state  of  the  soul  immediately  consequent  on  death. 
And  on  pursuing  it  we  were  led  into  the  speculations  given 
above,  which,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  their  soundness, 
have  the  merit  of  giving  truth  and  meaning  to  the  Apostolic 
way  of  speaking,  and  of  putting  into  the  hands  of  their  suc- 
cessors the  same  powerful  weapon  for  arresting  the  attention 
of  a  careless  world.  We  have  another  solution  of  this  dif- 
ficulty, derived  from  metaphysical  considerations  of  the  na- 
ture of  Time ;  which  is,  however,  too  abstract  and  tedious 
to  be  embodied  in  this  discourse.  Only  let  it  be  observed, 
before  passing  on  to  judgment,  that  the  general  argument  is 
in  nothing  prejudiced  by  the  soundness  or  unsoundness  of 


204  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

this  digression,  which  was  introduced  solely  to  explain  how 
the  soul  might  acquire  that  consciousness  of  her  acts,  and 
that  conviction  of  her  deservings,  which  are  essential  in  a 
culprit,  before  condemnation  can  pass  upon  him  with  any 
effect.  Now  this  is  a  question  of  knowledge,  not  of  justice, 
and  therefore  doth  not  prejudice  the  ^reat  argument  on 
which  we  are  engaged,  and  on  which  we  now  venture  again 
with  trust,  by  the  help  of  God,  to  bring  it  to  a  happy  issue. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 
PART  VI. 

THE  LAST  JUDGMENT. 

Had  our  occupation  in  this  Discourse  been  that  of  the 
poet  or  the  orator,  we  have  now  before  us  a  subject  which, 
for  the  magnificence  of  the  scenery,  the  magnitude  of  the 
transaction,  and  the  effects  which  it  draweth  on,  stands  un- 
rivalled in  the  annals  of  human  knowledge; — a  subject  in- 
deed with  which  the  powers  of  conception  cannot  be  brought 
to  contend.  Imagination  cowers  her  wing,  unable  to  fetch 
the  compass  of  the  ideal  scene.  The  great  white  throne  de- 
scending out  of  heaven,  guarded  and  begirt  with  the  prin- 
cipalities and  powers  thereof — the  awful  presence,  at  whose 
sight  the  heavens  and  the  earth  flee  away,  and  no  place  for 
them  is  found — the  shaking  of  the  mother  elements  of  na- 
ture, and  the  commotion  of  the  hoary  deep,  to  render  up 
their  long  dissolved  dead — the  rushing  together  of  quicken- 
ed men  upon  all  the  winds  of  heaven  down  to  the  centre, 
where  the  judge  sitteth  on  his  blazing  throne — To  give  form 
and  figure  and  utterance  to  the  mere  circumstantial  pomp 
of  such  a  scene  no  imagination  availeth.  Nor  doth  the  un- 
derstanding labour  less.  The  archangel,  with  the  trump  of 
God,  riding  sublime  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  and  sending 
through  the  widest  dominion  of  death  and  the  grave  that 
shiirp  summons  which  divideth  the  solid  earth,  and  rings 
through  the  caverns  of  the  hollow  deep,  piercing  the  dull 
cold  ear  of  death  and  the  grave  with  the  knell  of  their  de- 
parted reign;  the  death  of  Death,  the  disinheriting  of  the 
grave,  the  reign  of  life,  the  second  birth  of  living  things,  the 
reunion  of  body  and  soul — the  one  from  unconscious  sleep, 
the  other  from  apprehensive  and  unquiet  abodes, — the  con- 
gregation of  all  generations  over  whom  the  stream  of  time 
hath  swept — This  outstretches  my  understanding  no  less 
than  the  material  imagery  confuses  my  imagination.     And 

27 


206  OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME. 

when  I  bring  the  picture  to  my  heart,  its  feelings  are  over- 
whelmed: When  I  fancy  this  quick  and  conscious  frame 
one  instant  reawakened  and  reinvest»id,  the  next  summoned 
before  the  face  of  the  Almighty  Judge — now  re-begotten, 
now  siftf  d  through  every  secret  corner — my  poor  soul,  pos- 
sessed with  the  memory  of  its  misdeeds,  submitted  to  the 
scorching  eye  of  my  Maker — my  fate  depending  upon  his 
lips»  my  everlasting,  changeless  fate, — I  shriek  and  shiver 
with  mortal  apprehension.  And  when  I  fancy  the  myriads 
of  men  all  standing  thus  explored  and  known,  I  seem  to 
hear  their  shiverings  like  the  aspen  leaves  in  the  still  even- 
ing of  Autumn.  Pale  fear  possesseth  every  countenance, 
and  blank  conviction  every  quaking  heart.  They  stand  like 
men  upon  the  perilous  edge  of  battle,  withholden  from 
speech  and  pinched  for  breath  through  excess  of  struggling 
emotions — shame,  remorse,  and  mortal  apprehension,  and 
trembling  hope. 

Then  the  recording  angel  opens  the  book  of  God's  remem- 
brance, and  inquisition  proceedeth  apace.  Anon  they  move 
quicker  than  the  movement  of  thought  to  the  right  and  left, 
two  most  innumerous  companies.  From  his  awful  seat,  his 
countenance  clothed  with  the  smile  which  makes  all  heaven 
gay,  the  Judge  pronounceth  blessing  f)r  ever  and  ever  upon 
the  heads  of  his  disciples,  and  dispenseth  to  them  a  king- 
dom prepared  by  (iod  from  the  first  of  time.  To  their 
minds,  seized  with  the  tidings  of  unexpected  deliverance,  it 
seemeth  as  a  dream,  and  they  wonder  with  ecstasy  at  the 
unbounded  love  of  their  Redeemer.  They  wonder,  and  they 
speak  their  unworthiness,  but  they  are  reassured  bv  the 
voice  of  Him  that  changeth  not.  Then  joy  seizeth  their 
whole  soul  and  assurance  of  immortal  bliss.  Their  trials 
are  ended,  their  course  is  finished,  the  prize  is  won,  and  the 
crown  of  eternal  life  is  laid  up  for  them  in  store; — fulness 
of  joy  and  pleasures  for  ever,  at  the  right  hand  of  (iod. 
Again  the  judge  lifteth  up  his  voice,  his  countenance  cloth- 
ed in  that  frown  which  kindled  hell,  and  pronounces  eter- 
nal perdition,  with  the  devil  and  his  angels,  upon  the  wretch- 
ed people  who  despised  and  rejected  him  on  earth.  They 
remonstrate,  but  remonstrance  is  vain.  It  is  finished  with 
hope,  it  is  finished  with  grace,  it  is  finished  with  mercy;  jus- 
tice hath  begun  her  terrible  reign  to  endure  for  ever.  Then 
arise  from  myriads  of  myriads  the  groans  and  shrieks  and 
thicnt'S  of  despair;  they  invoke  every  mother  element  of  na- 
ture to  consume  their  being  back  into  her  dark  womb;  they 
call  upon  the  rocks  to  crush  them,  and  the  hills  to  cover 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  201 

them  from  the  terrible  presence  of  the  Lord  and  from  his 
consuming  wrath.  Such  episodes  of  melting  tenderness 
there  will  be  at  this  final  parting  of  men!  such  eternal  fare- 
wells! but,  ah!  the  word  farewell  hath  forgotten  its  meaning, 
and  wishes  of  welfare  now  are  vain.  A  new  order  of  things 
hath  commenced,  the  age  of  necessity  hath  begun  its  reign, 
all  change  is  for  ever  sealed. 

This  mighty  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  this 
catastrophe  of  evil  and  consummation  of  good,  fortunately 
it  is  not  our  province  to  clothe  with  living  imagery,  else  our 
faculties  should  have  failed  in  the  attempt.  But  if  our  di- 
vine Poet  hath,  by  his  mighty  genius,  so  rendered  to  con- 
ception the  fallen  angels  beneath  the  sulphurous  canopy  of 
hell,  their  shapes,  their  array,  their  warfare  and  their  high 
debates,  as  to  charm  and  captivate  our  souls  by  the  gran- 
deur of  their  sentiments  and  the  splendour  of  their  chival- 
ry, and  to  cheat  us  into  sympathy  and  pity  and  even  admi- 
ration; how  mij^ht  such  another  spirit,  (if  it  shall  please  the 
Lord  to  yield  another  such,)  draw  forth  the  theme  of  judg- 
ment from  its  ambiguous  light,  give  it  form  and  circum- 
stance, feeling  and  expression,  so  that  it  should  strike  home 
upon  the  heart  with  the  presentiment  of  those  very  feelings 
which  shall  then  be  awakened  in  our  breasts.  This  task 
awaits  some  lofty  and  pious  soul  hereafter  to  arise,  and  when 
performed  will  enrich  the  world  with  a  **■  Paradise  Regain- 
ed" worthy  to  be  a  sequel  to  the"  Paradise  Lost;"  and  with 
an  ''  Inferno"  that  needeth  no  physical  torments  to  make  it 
infernal;  and  with  a  judgment  antecedent  to  both,  embrac- 
ing and  embodying  the  complete  justification  of  God's  ways 
to  man- 
Instead  of  which  mighty  fruit  of  genius,  this  age  (Oh, 
shocking!)  hath  produced  out  of  this  theme  two  most  nau- 
seous and  unformed  abortions,  vile,  unprincioled,  and  un- 
meaning—the one  a  brazen-faced  piece  of  political  cant,  the 
other  an  abandoned  parody  of  solemn  judgment.  Of  which 
visionaries,  I  know  not  whether  the  self-confident  tone  of 
the  one,  or  the  ill-placed  merriment  of  the  other,  displeas- 
eth  me  the  more.  It  is  ignoble  and  impious  to  rob  the  sub- 
limest  of  subjects  of  all  its  grandeur  and  effect,  in  order  to 
serve  wretched  interests  and  vulgar  passions.  I  have  no 
sympathy  with  such  wretched  stuff,  and  I  despise  the  age 
which  hath.  The  men  are  limited  in  their  faculties,  for  they, 
boih  of  them,  want  the  greatest  of  all  faculties — to  know  the 
living  God  and  stand  in  awe  of  his  mighty  power:  with  the 
©ne,  blasphemy  is  virtue  when  it  makes  for  loyalty;  with 


20S  OP   JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

the  other,  blasphemy  is  the  food  and  spice  of  jest-making. 
Barren  souls! — and  is  the  land  of  Shakspeare  and  Spencer 
and  Milton  come  to  this!  that  it  can  procreate  nothing  but 
such  profane  spawn,  and  is  content  to  exalt  such  blots  and 
blemishes  of  manhood  into  ornaments  of  the  age.  Puny  age! 
when  religion  and  virtue  and  manly  freedom  have  ceased 
from  the  character  of  those  it  accounteth  noble,  but  I  thank 
God  who  hath  given  us  a  refuge  in  the  great  spirits  of  a  for- 
mer age,  who  will  yet  wrest  the  sceptre  from  these  mongrel 
Englishmen;  from  whose  impieties  we  can  betake  ourselves 
to  the  "  Advent  to  Judgment"  of  Taylor;  "  The  Four  Last 
Things"  of  Bates;  the  "  Blessedness  of  the  Righteous"  of 
H  >we;  and  the  "  Saint's  Rest"  of  Baxter;  books  which 
breathe  of  the  reverend  spirit  of  the  old',  n  time.  God  send 
to  the  others  repentance,  or  else  blast  the  powers  they  have 
abused  so  terribly;  for  if  they  repent  not,  they  shall  harp 
another  strain  at  that  scene  they  have  sought  to  vulgarize. 
The  men  have  seated  themselves  in  his  throne  of  judgment, 
to  vent  from  thence  doggrel  spleen  and  insipid  flattery;  the 
impious  men  have  no  more  ado  with  the  holy  seat  than  the 
obscene  owl  hath,  to  nestle  and  bring  forth  in  the  Ark  of 
the  Covenant,  which  the  wings  of  the  cherubim  of  glory  did 
overshadow. 

But,  to  return,  our  office  is  not  to  create  forms  for  the 
presentation  of  the  last  judgment  to  the  fancy,  but  to  mea- 
sure it  by  reason,  and  examine  how  it  squares  with  the 
noble  sentiments  of  justice  which  God  hath  implanted  in 
our  breast.  Having  already  taken  his  constitution  of  govern- 
ment to  task,  it  now  remains  that,  in  like  manner,  we  take 
to  task  the  judgment  and  the  award  which  is  to  pass  there- 
on. As  to  the  manner  of  the  judgment,  we  have  already 
thrown  out  our  conjecture  in  the  preceding  part,  and  the 
preliminaries  of  it  we  have  examined  at  length.  It  now  re- 
mains that  we  enter  into  inquiry  upon  the  matter  of  it,  or 
the  principle  by  which  decision  is  to  be  given.  This  is  stated 
at  length  in  Matthew,  chapter  xxv-  verse  31: — 

"  When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all 
the  holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of 
his  glory:  And  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations;  and 
he  shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd  di- 
videth  his  sheep  from  the  goats:  And  he  shall  set  the  sheep 
on  his  right  hand,  but  the  goats  on  the  left.  Then  shall  the 
King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand.  Come,  ye  bleascd  of 
my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world:     For  1  was  an  hungered,  and  ye 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  20d 

gave  me  meat;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink;  I  was 
a  stranger,  and  ye  tcxDk  me  in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me;  I 
was  sick,  and  .ye  visited  me;  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came 
unto  me.  Then  shall  the  righteous  answer  him,  saying.  Lord, 
when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered,  and  fed  theeP  or  thirsty, 
and  gave  thee  drink!  When  saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and 
took  thee  inr  or  naked,  and  clothed  thee.^  Or  when  saw  we 
thee  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  came  unto  thee?  And  the  King 
shall  answer  and  say  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  In- 
asmuch ds  yc  have  done  it  unto  one  ol  the  least  ot  these  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me.  Then  shall  he  say  also  unto 
them  on  the  left  hand.  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed  into  ev- 
erlasting hre,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels;  For  I 
was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  no  meat;  1  was  thirsty, 
and  ye  gave  me  no  drink;  1  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me 
not  in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  not;  sick,  and  in  prison, 
and  ye  visited  me  not.  Then  shall  they  also  answer  him 
saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered,  or  athirst,  or 
a  stranger,  or  naked,  or  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  did  not  mi- 
nister unto  thee?  Then  shall  he  answer  them,  saying.  Veri- 
ly 1  say  unto  you,  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the 
least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me.  And  these  shall  go  away 
into  everlasting  punishment;  but  the  righteous  into  life  eter- 
nal." 

These  six  charities,  upon  which  the  destinations  of  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked  are  made  to  turn,  seem  at  first 
thought  but  a  slight  review  of  human  life,  and  but  a  loose 
inquisition  into  our  obedience  of  the  divine  law;  and  we 
feel  as  if  the  tests  of  judgment  to  come  should  have  been 
more  consonant  to  the  spiritual  character  of  the  div  ine  con- 
stitution, turning  more  upon  the  perfection  of  Christian  cha- 
racter, than  upon  six  outward  moral  actions  of  charity  ana 
human-heartedness,  which  are  hardly  hid  from  the  natural 
feelings  of  the  most  unfeeling  savage.  But  when  thorough- 
ly examined,  as  we  now,  in  dependence  upon  divine  grace, 
shall  endeavour  to  do,  this  will  turn  out  to  be  the  most  tho- 
rough inquest  into  our  faith  and  feelings  and  character,  and 
the  severest  test  of  our  obedience  which  the  Scripture  con- 
tains among  all  its  descriptions  of  this  solemn  event. 

The  six  necessary  consolations  and  supports  of  human 
life  are  bread,  water  and  clothing — health, human  feliowsnip, 
and  freedom  to  travel  over  the  creation  of  God.  Being 
abridged  of  any  one  of  these  demands.  Nature  complains; 
and  being  cut  off  from  any  one  of  them,  she  is  miserable  if 
she  have  no  refuge  in  the  hopes  of  the  world  to  come. 


SIO  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME, 

"Without  bread  and  water,  life  cannot  endure  for  many  daysj 
without  clothing,  misery  invades  us  at  ever}'   pore,  every 
modest,  delicate  sentiment  is  murdered,  and  the  noble  nature 
of  man   brought  level  with  the   brutes;  without  health,  the 
countenance  of  man  is  transformed  and  his  nature  is  dis- 
guised— pain  possesses  the  place  of  enjoyment,  and  the  sel- 
fishness of  pain  doth  in  the  long  run  eat  out  the  kindlier  sym- 
pathies of  the  heart.     And  what  were  man  without  friends 
or  the  fellowship  of  his  kind?  a  miserable  outcast,  a  helpless 
wanderer  and  vagabond  upon  the  earth,  for  whom  it  is  bet- 
ter to  die  than  to  live.^    And  the  loss  of  liberty,  imprison- 
ment in  loathsome  dungeons,  and  restriction  from  the  natu- 
ral freedom  of  our  estate,  for  which  every  creature  under 
heaven  was  made,  is  perhaps  of  all  the  others  the  mosi  des- 
perate calamity.   For  if  Providence  deny  us  bread  and  wa- 
ter and  necessary  clothing,  then  we  can  die   in  calm  resig- 
nation to  his  will,  and  our  misery  is  at  an  end;  or  if  his  vi- 
siiaiions  bow  us  down  with    sickness,  then  still  it    is    the 
Lord  which  giveth,  and  the  Lord  which  taketh  away,  and 
let  his  name  be  blessed.   If  our  friends  forsake  us,  we  have 
still  a  resource  in  the  friendship  of  God,  and  of  him  whom 
God  hath  sent  to  comfort  the  afflicted  and  the  fallen.     But 
th.it  our  fellow  men,  worms  like  ourselves,  should  have  pow- 
er yielded  them  to  shut  us  out  from  friendship  and  the  face 
of  day,  and  the  sight  of  Nature's  charms,  to  deal  out  to  us 
our  pittance  of  bread  and  water  and  wretched  accommodation, 
protracting  at  pleasure  the  vile  durance,  and  at  will  increas- 
ing the  measure  of  our  deprivations — this  is  a  condition  for 
humanity  to  be  affected  with,  worse,  it  seems  to  me,  than 
the  other  five,  and,  next  to  a  disgraceful  and  violent  death, 
the  worst  that  can  be  laid  upon  enduring  man. 

Let  these  six  srates  of  existence,  a  hungered,  athirst,  na- 
ked, sick,  a  stranger,  a  prisoner,  be  regarded  then  not  as  six 
individual  afflictions  amongst  the  ten  thousand  which  afflict 
this  weary  world,  but  as  being  the  six  aspects  of  misery — 
the  six  evil  stars  under  which  the  miserable  pass  their  life. 
Go  round  the  habitations  of  men,  and  examine  into  the  se- 
veral sources  of  their  anxiety,  and  the  several  causes  of 
their  urgent  labours,  you  shall  find  that  it  is  to  keep  at  the 
staff's  end  these  three  necessities — hunger,  thirst,  and  na- 
kedness. Also,  study  the  luxuries  which  are  assembled 
into  the  shops  and  market-places  of  the  city;  you  shall  find 
the  most  part  for  the  accommodation  or  entertainment  of  the 
three  desires,  of  food  and  drink  and  raiment,  for  which  the 
earth  is  cultivated  and  the  juices  of  her  fruits  expressed, 


eP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  211 

and  her  animals  stripped  of  their  fleecy  and  hairy  coverings; 
Again,  go  round  the  habitations  of  men,  and  mark  the 
sources  of  their  grief  and  bitter  lamentations,  you  shall  find 
them  to  arise  from  loss  of  friends  or  balmy  health;  they  are 
sick,  or  they  are  strangers  to  the  beloved  of  their  heart, 
whom  God  hath  removed  from  the  place  where  they  were 
\\ont  to  dwell.  Finally,  go  to  the  places  appointed  for  the 
miserable,  and  what  do  you  find?  prisons  where  liberty  is 
curtailed;  hospitals  into  which  the  sick  are  received;  asy- 
lums for  the  friendless  and  the  orphans;  tables  for  the  hun- 
gry mendicants,  and  clothing  for  the  naked  and  the  destitute; 
— which  induction  doth  prove  the  position  stated  ab'ove, 
that  these  six  conditions,  mentioned  in  the  judgment,  are, 
as  it  were,  the  six  great  perils  of  man. 

For  this  same  reason  that  these  six  conditions  are  as  it 
were  the  six  zones  in  the  world  of  misery,  they  become  six 
regions  into  which  the  power  of  man  consigns  those  whom 
it  would  afflict.  They  are  the  points  on  which  human  na- 
ture is  vulnerable,  and  are  fixed  upon  for  that  end  by  those 
who,  from  cruelty  or  for  punishment,  would  trouble  her 
condition — and  further  they  cannot  go  in  their  measures 
against  her  well-being.  For  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  man 
to  disturb  the  seat  of  reason,  which  Ciod  hath  kept  secret 
from  his  reach;  neither  can  he  raze  out  the  legends  of  me- 
mory, or  deface  the  visions  of  hope,  or  stem  the  current  of 
thought;  he  can  only  remove  us  from  the  dwellings  of  our 
kindred  to  a  land  wherein  we  shall  be  a  stranger;  and  he 
can  immure  us  in  disgraceful  bondi^ge,  and  abstract  from 
Nature  her  wonted  supplies;  he  can  dismember  our  bodies, 
and  bring  on  sickness  and  disease  by  noxious  confinements 
and  unwholesome  foods.  If  he  were  to  go  a  greater  length 
he  would  defeat  his  own  end,  for  by  death  we  should  flee 
away  and  be  at  rest.  Accordingly,  if  you  study  the  annals 
of  wantonly  inflicted  sufi'ering,  or  enter  into  the  criminal 
code  of  nations,  you  will  find  these  six  heads,  mentioned  in 
the  judgment,  to  be  a  good  classification  of  all  the  individu- 
al instances  of  infliction: — deprivation  of  customary  diet, 
from  the  plenty  and  luxury  of  our  ordinary  life  down  to  the 
limit  of  starvation:  abstraction  of  personal  comfort  and  do- 
mestic accommodation,  down  to  the  limit  of  nakedness:  inflic- 
tion oi  torture,  to  cause  pain  and  sickness:  exile  from  our 
native  land  to  a  distant  inhospitable  region;  deprivation  of 
our  liberty,  to  the  extent  of  immuring  oui  persons  and  fet- 
tering our  limbs.  The  Lord,  therefore,  in  these  sixbriel  in- 
stances, has  not  only  grouped  the  calamities  of  human  na- 


&\2  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

ture,  but  also  the  limitations  of  man's  power  over  his  fellow 
man. 

Now,  into  each  of  these  six  conditions  he  supposes  him- 
self to  have  passed  under  the  eye  of  every  man  who  is  be- 
fore him  in  judgment,  and  inquires  into  the  treatment  which 
he  received  at  their  hands:  whether  they  did  supply  him 
when  it  was  in  their  power,  and  comfort  him  when  it  was 
not:  or  whether  they  did  utterly  neglect  him  and  basely 
suffer  him  to  pine  without  help  or  consolation.  Upon  this, 
when  the  one  class  modestly  decline  having  done  for  him 
any  such  charitable  offices  as  he  enumerates,  and  the  other 
stoutly  deny  that  they  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  cry  of  his 
calamities,  he  explains  that  it  was  not  of  himself  he  spoke, 
but  of  the  meanest  of  those  who  were  his  brethren; — "'  In- 
asmuch as  ye  did  it,  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not,  to  the  least 
of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it,  or  ye  did  it  not,  to  me." 
The  judge  identifies  himself  with  every  one  who  is  joined 
to  him  in  a  brotherly  union,  and  identifies  their  evil  or  good 
treatment  with  his  own,  justifying  to  the  last  that  love  of 
his  people  for  which  he  suffered  and  died  and  sent  his  com- 
forter; verifying  all  the  figures  contained  in  Scripture,  of 
their  intimate  union  with  himself  their  living  head,  of  their 
being  his  members  upon  the  earth,  in  whose  sufferings  he 
suffered,  and  in  whose  enjoyments  he  rejoiced. 

The  meaning  of  the  whole  transaction  is  therefore  this, 
— that  Christ  hath  set  on  foot  upon  the  earth  a  cause  to 
which  certain  others  have  associated  themselves,  and  which 
they  are  striving  with  one  accord  to  establish.  In  the  pro- 
secution of  their  object  they  are  to  encounter  all  the  six 
forms  of  human  misery,  and  to  draw  down  upon  their  heads 
all  the  six  forms  of  human  trial — hunger,  thirst,  nakedness, 
sickness,  exile,  and  imprisonment.  In  which  encounter  of 
stormy  trial,  they  are  to  find  in  the  world  some  who  pity 
and  assist  them,  others  who  neglect  and  despise  them.  By 
this  mark  the  world  is  to  be  separated  asunder,  and  acquit- 
ted or  condemned  in  the  great  day  of  her  responsibility.  So 
that,  in  truth,  this  test,  which  at  first  seemed  merely  mor- 
al, turns  out  to  be  specially  christian,  and  contains,  as  we 
now  proceed  to  show,  the  most  discriminative  mark  between 
the  friends  and  enemies  of  God,  between  the  servants  and 
the  rebels  to  his  Son's  government. 

For,  as  every  man  knows,  deeds  show  the  sincerity  of 
words,  and  adversity  proveth  the  true  character  of  deeds; 
any  cause  will  find  coadjutors  while  it  goes  with  the  stream, 
but  when  it  hath  to  struggle  against  it,  n9ne  but  true  men 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  2  Vd 

lie  to  their  oar.  Therefore  Christ  propoundeth  the  true  test 
of  adherence  to  him  and  his  cause.  Six  jeopardies  he  puts 
it  in,  and  a  seventh  can  hardly  be  found;  he  enumerates  the 
orb  of  its  perils,  and  then  asks  who  hath  stood  by  it  through- 
out the  entire  round.  These  are  the  men,  says  he,  for  whom 
my  Father  hath  prepared  a  kingdom  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  for  the  rest,  let  them  plead  as  their  fears  and 
self  love  may  dictate,  they  must  betake  them  to  the  devil 
and  his  angels,  whose  service  they  preferred  to  mine.  He 
examines  who  are  standing  at  the  end  of  the  battle,  or  have 
fallen  with  wounds  in  their  breast,  scorning  flight  or  base 
submission.  These  he  numbers  and  unites  in  his  triumph; 
but  the  rest,  who  joined  not  his  standard,  or  having  joined 
it,  turned  not  out  to  his  help  against  the  might) ,  or  having 
come  into  the  field,  preferred  flight  or  base  desertion  to  no- 
ble death  and  triumph,  he  rejects  and  abandons  to  the  pow- 
er of  that  enemy  whom  they  loved  or  feared. 

There  is  no  evading  or  counterfeiting  of  this  test.  Had 
he  placed  it  in  forms  of  belief,  then  every  sound -headed 
student  of  his  word,  who  could  logically  extract  the  bearing 
of  its  various  propositions,  would  have  come  off  glorious, 
whatever  had  been  the  state  of  his  affections  or  his  morals. 
And  no  one  but  he  could  have  come  gloriously  off:  so  that 
the  busy  multitude,  who  have  not  time  accurately  to  try 
conclusions  pf  doctrine;  and  the  unlettered,  who  have  not 
learning  to  consult  the  faculties  and  bodies  of  theological 
lore;  and  the  unintellectual,  who  have  not  sufficient  depth 
of  mind  to  fathom  their  mysteries;  and  the  wise,  who  have 
more  sense  than  to  meddle  with  their  vain  and  profitless 
janglings, — would  all  have  been  excluded  for  the  sake  of 
some  few  head-strong  persecuting  dogmatists.  I,  for  one, 
feel  truly  most  happy  and  contented  in  my  mind,  that  upon 
whatever  future  destiny  is  made  to  turn,  it  is  not  upon  a 
refined  and  finical  creed.  Had  it  been  made  to  turn  upon 
what  are  called  frames  of  the  inner  man,  or  evanescent  feel- 
ings of  the  mind,  then  I  know  not  what  a  rabble  of  devotees 
and  self-deluded  enthusiasts  would  have  rushed  forward  in 
the  greatness  of  their  self  confidence.  You  would  have  had 
them,  from  the  cell  of  the  crazed  with  religious  dreams,  and 
from  the  gloomy  chambers  of  the  fanatic;  you  would  have 
had  persecuting  prelates  and  infuriated  inquisitors  all  plead- 
ing the  holy  convictions  of  their  minds.  Every  dreamer, 
every  visionary,  every  self-deluded  prophet  would  have 
come,  and  every  towering  confident  of  God  and  pharisaical 
judge  of  his  fellow.  The  whole  catalogue  of  severe  monas- 

28 


214>  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

tics,  who  lived  on  remote  and  retired  communion,  and  built 
presumption  upon  the  intoxications  of  stlt  consequence, 
which  their  solitude  and  seclusion  wrought  within  them — all 
would  have  come,  claiming  upon  their  deranged  conceptions 
and  fancied  communions  wiih  God. 

But  as  it  is,  the  test  reduces  iiseif  to  that  which  alone  can 
evince  the  reality  of  belief,  measure  the  worth  of  Service, 
and  interpret  the  truth  of  feelings;  namely,  the  trouble  and 
the  trial  which  we  did  undergo  for  him  whom  we  profess 
to  believe  in,  and  to  sacrifice  to,  and  to  feel  for.  It  comes 
and  makes  inquiry  whether  for  his  sake  we  did  encounter, 
when  need  was,  the  extremest  rigours  of  life,  neicher  felt 
ashamed  of  those  who  were  called  on  to  encounter  them. 
If  the  fear  of  public  reproach,  or  the  loss  of  liberty,  or  ex- 
ile, or  straitened  conditions,  ii  any  of  these  extremes,  or  any 
of  the  degrees  which  lead  on  to  them,  were  willingly  met 
when  the  cause  was  for  Christ  and  his  followers.  "  Those 
>vho  deny  me  on  earth,  them  will  I  dt  ny  before  my  Father 
in  heaven;  those  who  confess  me  on  earth,  will  I  confess 
before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  ' 

There  is  therefore  no  doubt  that  when  these  tests  occur 
in  the  providence  of  God,  they  are  touchstones  for  ascer- 
taining true-hearted  and  faithful  followers  of  the  Cross  of 
Christ.  But  it  may  be  thought  that  there  is  a  quaintness, 
if  not  a  source  of  error  and  mistake,  thus  to  reveal  unto  all 
ages  and  nations  of  men,  a  test  of  eternal  judgment,  which, 
it  may  be  thought,  is  applicable  only  to  those  icw  times  and 
places  in  which  Christ  or  his  members  are  suffering  re- 
proach and  tribulation.  But  let  us  look  a  little  deeper  still, 
and  we  shall  fino  that  the  age  or  country  hath  not  been,  in 
which  these  six  perils  of  human  life  have  not  deterred,  and 
their  six  opposite  advantages  bribed,  the  world  from  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

For  those  six  conditions,  be  they  sad  calamities  of  Pro- 
vidence, or  inhuman  inflictions  of  man  upon  his  fellow  man, 
are  of  all  things  the  most  terrible  to  be  endured;  and  are 
avoided  like  the  mouths  of  tigers  and  wolves,  and  other  ra- 
venous creatures.  To  escape  from  them  is  the  delight,  to 
fall  under  them  the  horror,  of  human  nature.  In  every 
condition  wherein  we  stand,  be  it  high  or  be  it  low,  there 
are  constant  temptations,  beseeching  us  to  rise  a  little  high- 
er and  escape  from  some  of  the  hardships  with  which  we 
feel  ourselves  to  be  threatened  or  encumbered.  Whenever 
we  have  a  want  or  pain  or  any  unquiet  feeling,  there  is  also 
a  desire  to  escape  from  under  its  oppression;  and  when  we 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  2\5 

are  escaped  from  under  its  oppression,  there  is  a  constant 
desire  to  ward  it  off.  Though  I  be  not  hungry  nor  thirsty, 
yet  the  fear  of  want  moves  me  to  embark  in  a  thousand 
schemes  and  occupations;  or  there  are  a  thousand  luxuries 
which  I  have  ingrafted  upon  the  stock  of  these  natural  ap- 
petites of  hunger  and  thirst,  which  I  could  not  without  pain 
think  of  resigning,  and  which  I  strive  by  many  means  to 
preserve.  Though  I  am  not  naked,  but  have  raiment  and 
accommodation  to  my  person  more  than  sufficient,  yet  I 
have  ingrafted  upon  the  natural  stock  of  shelter  from  the 
cold,  a  thousand  articles  of  personal  decoration  and  vanity, 
to  lose  which  would  cost  me  dear,  to  supply  the  consump- 
tion of  which  to  myself  and  family  is  a  constant  source  of 
my  anxiety  and  toil.  And  though  I  am  not  a  stranger,  yet 
how  am  I  puzzled  and  perplexed,  lest  I  should  become 
strange  to  my  present  friends,  to  keep  my  place  in  society, 
and  my  credit  in  the  great  world  of  reputation;  into  how 
many  shifts  of  hypocrisy  driven,  into  how  many  artifices 
seduced,  and  into  how  many  schemes  am  I  hurried!  So 
that,  without  further  enumeration,  as  has  been  already  said, 
the  desire  to  shun  these  six  miserables,  and  to  gain  the  six 
opposite  enjoyments,  may  be  considered  as  the  six  great  im- 
pulses which  keep  the  moral  world  revolving  round.  There- 
fore, either  at  hand  or  at  a  distance,  either  through  imme- 
diate feeling,  pr  through  ftir  off,  but  oft-felt  apprehension, 
these  six  conditions  touch  and  instigate  most  part  of  our 
thought  and  activity. 

With  all  which  thought  and  activity  to  avoid  the  misad- 
ventures and  calamities  of  life,  the  Saviour  wishes  himself 
and  his  cause  to  be  interwoven;  that  we  may  take  diligent 
order  we  in  nothing  do  him  wrong  to  effect  our  escape,  or 
remove  our  distance  from  these  the  vultures  of  our  present 
state;  but  that  we  be  more  contented  to  fall  into  their  jaws 
than  to  forsake  his  fellowship,  seeing  the  one  perils  only  the 
body,  the  other  both  soul  afnd  body  forever.  His  last  judg- 
ment, which  is  to  determine  the  happiness  or  misery  of 
eternal  ages,  he  would  bring  into  close  contiguity  and  com- 
parison with  those  every-day  judgments  of  our  own,  which 
determine  only  the  comfort  or  discomfort  of  time.  The  life 
to  come,  and  the  life  that  is,  he  would  bring  into  actual 
mixture  in  our  wishes  and  schemes,  that  we  may  steer  a 
good  course,  not  till  death  only,  but  for  ever  and  ever.  The 
Saviour  doth  not  require  of  us,  to  rein  in  our  desire  to  es- 
cape privations,  but  to  be  more  content  with  the  privation 
while  he  remains  in  his  integrity  within  our   consciencej 


216  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

than  to  have  deliverance  at  the  expense  of  mangling  and 
defacing  the  image  of  God  within  our  breast;  in  short,  to 
prefer  the  worse  to  the  better  for  his  sake,  and  rather  to  suf- 
fer persecution  with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season. 

And  whosoever  is  a  true  servant  of  Christ,  must  needs 
suiFer  persecution,  in  some  of  these  six  circles  of  suffering, 
even  in  this  enlightened  age  and  tolerant  land.  Though  I 
am  no  enemy  to  the  gradations  of  human  life,  nor  setter 
forth  of  levelling  doctrines,  I  must,  in  justice  to  the  pre- 
sent argument,  say  this  much,  that  the  world  and  the  Sa- 
viour like  each  other  not;  and  that  in  any  rank  of  life,  espe- 
cially in  the  higher  ranks,  if  a  man  make  a  determined  stand 
for  his  Redeemer,  he  will  have  need  of  courage  and  reso- 
lution to  keep  his  ground.  Perhaps  those  of  his  own  house- 
hold may  prove  his  foes.  For  certain,  the  fashions  of  his 
rank  will  turn  against  him  and  treat  him  roughly;  they  will 
tempt,  they  will  threaten,  they  will  revile  him;  and  in  the 
end  give  him  up  for  a  wild  and  crazed  mortal.  If  it  fareth 
so  to  godly  people  in  this  generation;  what  think  you  must 
be  their  case  in  foreign  lands,  and  what  must  have  been 
their  case  in  barbarous  times,  for  which,  and  for  all  ages  no 
less  than  for  us,  these  tests  of  Judgment  to  come  are  given? 
The  inimical  world  changeth  the  weapons  without  relaxing 
the  zeal  of  its  warfare  against  the  saints;  and  though  it  use 
not  these  six  precise  forms  of  jeopardy,  it  useth  others  akin 
to  these,  which  human  nature  is  alike  loth  to  undergo;  such 
as  discountenance  of  friends,  malice  of  enemies;  exile  from 
our  natural  confidence  and  rightful  place  in  the  family  or 
social  circle,  often  absolute  seclusion  from  their  love  and 
estt  em.  All  which  degrees  and  forms  of  evil  the  Saviour 
includes  in  these  six  ultimate  perditions  of  our  good  estate, 
as  ihe  lesser  is  included  in  the  greater;  and  all  these,  how- 
ever diverse  in  form  to  those  mentioned  in  the  text,  are  in 
substance  the  same,  and  will  be  taken  in  proof  of  our  true 
allegiance  to  him  and  to  his  cause. 

A  little  farther  to  expound  the  application  of  these  six 
tests  to  the  present  times.  I  know  that  I  speak  to  the  ex- 
perience of  men,  when  I  say  that  in  your  various  avocations 
and  spheres  of  life,  you  have  a  hard  battle  to  wage  with 
customs  which  bear  against  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus;  for 
into  all  departments  of  business,  and  into  all  the  establish- 
ments and  offices  of  life,  there  have  crept  habits  which  serve 
convenience  at  the  expense  of  truth,  and  promote  interest 
at  the  expense  of  honesty;  so  that  in  some  departments  of 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  Si7 

trade  it  is  hardly  possible  to  move  a  step  without  the  vio- 
lation of  Christian  principles.     Likewise  into  the  manners 
and  customs  of  life  there  have  been  introduced,  many  acts 
and  sayings  of  duplicity  and  disguise,  to  save  appearances 
or  gratify   fastidious  tastes.     Vanity  is  flattered,  compli- 
ments offered  without  desert,  truth  wounded,  and  falsehood 
propagated  in  jest;  absolute  falsehoods  tolerated  in  the  high- 
est circles,  and  apologies  without  number,  in  which  there  is 
but  a  show  or  shadow  of  the  thing  pretended;   calumnies 
vended  in  a  thousand   shapes  of  pleasantry,  and,  in  short, 
all  manner  of  dishonesty  and  vice  permitted,  so  that  it  be 
dexterously   covered  with  a  veil  of  civility.     "Whosoever 
would  come  out  from  behind  these  screens  of  falsehood  and 
shame,  and  play  a  true  and  honest  part  before  the  observa- 
tion of  heaven,  may  depend  upon  a  deal  of  inconvenience, 
perhaps  some  loss,  certainly   great  contempt,  if  not  dislike, 
as  an  invader  of  good  old  rules,  and  a  libeller  of  most  wor- 
thy social  customs;  and,  till  he  is  fairly  understood,  he  shall 
have  a  tough  battle  to  engage  in.     Now  here  again  the  six 
tests   come  into   action,  to  encourage  us  in  the  strife  with 
settled  customs,  and  bear  our  constancy  up  with  the  assur- 
ance, that  the  little  we  lose  in  the  judgments  of  men  and 
the  advantages  of  life,  will  be  a  thousand-fold  compensated 
in  the  gain  we  reap  at  the  judgment-seat  of  God,  and  through 
the  endless  ages  of  eternity. 

The  test  to  be  proposed  at  the  judgment-seat  is,  there- 
fore, when  thoroughly  looked  into,  no  less  than  an  account 
taken  of  the  loss  which  every  one  hath  been  content  to  en- 
dure for  the  sake  of  Christ.  It  is  a  justification  against  the 
misjudgments  of  man,  and  a  compensation  for  the  losses  of 
time.  And  thus  what  looked  a  most  appalling  prospect  to 
the  best  prepared,  becomes,  by  this  tender  way  of  setting  it 
forth,  an  encouragement  to  every  disciple  of  the  Cross  in 
their  various  places,  and  a  constant  cheerfulness  under  the 
cloudy  visitations  of  providence  or  the  world.  It  is  at  once 
the  most  strict  inquest  that  can  be  set  on  foot,  and  the  most 
joyful  retribution  that  can  be  presented  to  the  suffering  mem- 
bers of  Christ;  while  to  those  who  cause  their  trouble,  it  is 
the  most  fearful  of  all  consummations,  and  to  all  who  prefer 
the  world  to  the  word  of  God,  it  is  a  day  of  most  terrible 
reckoning  and  revenge. 

But  besides  the  true  bearing  of  the  test  which  we  have 
endeavoured  to  set  forth  above,  there  are  several  collateral 
influences,  which  in  a  discourse  of  this  kind  we  can  but  enu- 
merate.    By  giving  it  this  form,  of  evil  done  to  himself  or 


218  OF   JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

endured  for  his  sake,  the  Saviour  doth  make  himself  to  be 
the  great  turning  point  of  the  whole  system  of  religion,  and 
to  set  aside  at  once  all  attachments,  however  honourable  or 
sincere,  which  do  not  rank  under  this  supreme  attachment, 
for  which  the  places  of  eternity  are  to  be  given.     All  reli- 
gion, therefore,  which  does   without  him  or  keeps  him  in 
the  shades,  is,  not  only  unsound  in  truth,  but  dangerous  to 
live  under;  and  however  it  makes  a  show  for  morals  or  ho- 
nour or  loyalty,  is  not   the  wedding  garment  with  which  to 
meet  the   Redeemer,  and  sit  under   the  eye  of  the  Judge. 
Also,  by   this  way   of  representing   the  judgment,   Christ 
makes  common  cause  with  the  meanest  of  his  followers,  and 
covers  with  a  divine  dignity  the  head  of  every  disciple  mak- 
ing them  heirs  and  joint  heirs  and  brethren  with  himself, — 
which  binds  them  in  a  common  union  of  mutual  respect  and 
reverence,  each  one  of  them  having  over  him  the  canopy  of 
the  Most  Holy,  and  being  defended  in  his  place  by  all  the 
thunders  of  the  judgment.   And  besides  these  advantages  of 
mutual  union  and  love,  this  description  of  the  judgment  day 
doth  represent  the  tendency  of  our  faith  to  draw  down  the 
obloquy  of  the  world,  which  hath   in  every  age  and  is  still 
so   strikingly  fulfilled;  and   should   put   the  world   upon  its 
guard,  how  its  dares  to  trouble  one  hair  of  a   saint's  head, 
or  touch  one  of  the  meanest  disciples  of  the  Saviour,  see- 
ing vengeance   ten  thousand  fold  lieth  against  all  who  mis- 
treat them.   And,  lastly,  it  brings  all  the  terrors  of  eternity 
to  bear  against  the    persecutors  of  his   church,  and  all  the 
blessings  of  eternity  to  bear   upon  the    persecuted,  in  order 
that  his  word  may  be  known  upon  the  earth,  and  his  saving 
health  among  the  nations. 

4n  sum,  Christ  supposes  himself,  in  the  six  extreme  cases 
of  calamity,  and  rests  his  cause  upon  the  proof  of  our  love 
which  we  then  offer  to  him,  just  as  in  other  attachments  ex- 
treme cases  are  chosen  to  prove  their  sincerity.  If  you  were 
asked,  what  test  of  friendship  might  be  safely  taken  in  judg- 
ment, you  would  name  such  as  was  given  between  Da\  id 
and  Jonathan,  between  Damon  and  Pyihias,  between  Py- 
lades  and  Orestes,  in  the  fac^  of  ali  buffering  and  loss.  If 
you  were  asked  for  a  test  which  might  be  relied  on  of  matri- 
monial attachment,  you  would  seek  for  such  instances  as  of 
our  royal  queen,  who  sucked  the  venom  from  her  husband's 
wound — of  filial  love,  you  would  take  that  of  Kuth  to  Nao- 
mi, our  Saviour  upon  the  Cross  to  his  virgin  moiher.  if 
you  Were  asked  for  a  test  of  love,  you  would  seek  to  strip  it 
of  all  honour  and  advantage,  of  all  form  and  appearance^  try 


OP   JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  219 

it  with  poverty  and  banishment,  and  tribulation,  and  see 
how  it  would  abide;  as  is  done  so  beautifully  in  the  old  En- 
glish poem  of  the  Nut-brown  Maid.  In  trial  of  attachment, 
m<;n  are  wont  to  seek  the  extreme  and  perilous  cases,  and 
have  a  hankering  doubt  while  any  chance  of  selfishness  is 
open;  and  therefore  it  doth  evince  both  knowledge  of  hu- 
man nature,  and  sweet  accordance  with  the  principles  there- 
of, that  Christ  should  in  the  judgment  take  the  same  me- 
thod of  proving  die  attachment,  which  there  has  been  in  the 
bosoms  of  men  towards  himself. 

But  it  may  be  said,  there  are  many  friendships,  loves  and 
domestic  affections  in  the  world,  which  though  they  have 
not  been  proved  by  fiery  trials,  are  nevertheless  to  be  held 
as  genuine  as  if  they  had  been  so  attacked;  and  if  we  are  not 
to  admit  such  into  our  enumeration  of  worthy  instances,  but 
insist  for  such  terrible  experiments,  we  must  be  content  to 
remain  ignorant  of  the  truth,  and  to  entertain  a  most  inac- 
curate opinion  of  human  life.  If,  then,  without  such  experi- 
ment, we  take  e\ery  day  into  our  good  opinion  infinite  cases, 
presuming  the  best  of  good  appearances,  until  we  see  rea- 
son to  suspect  a  flaw,  why  should  the  Saviour  set  forth  such 
extreme  positions  of  trial  as  the  only  test  which  at  the  judg- 
ment-seat will  be  admitted? 

To  this  important  question,  I  reply,  that  it  is  not  meant 
that  none  shall  be  passed  at  the  great  day  but  those  whose 
attachment  hath  been  proved  by  these  extreme  experiments; 
but  that  the  judge,  who  kncweth  the  heart,  will  dive  into  its 
secret  parts,  and  discover  whether  our  love  was  of  that  genu- 
ine kind  which  would  have  stood  the  test,  or  was  prompt- 
ed by  sinister  and  selfish  aims,  by  present  and  temporary 
ends.  He  will  look  into  our  life,  and  see  by  the  smaller  sa- 
crifices made  on  Christ's  account,  whether  we  should  have 
made  the  greater.  The  Judge  will  not  require  that  the  test 
should  have  been  taken  by  all,  but  will  ascertain  in  all  if 
their  affection  actually  manifested,  was  such  as  would  have 
stood  the  test  if  his  providence  had  offered  it.  It  is  our 
part,  therefore,  to  be  constantly  upon  the  outlook;  or  rather, 
I  should  say,  upon  the  insight,  to  ascertain  whether  or  not 
our  attachment  be  honourably  determined  by  the  indwell- 
ing qualities  of  that  Saviour,  and  the  indwelling  qualities  of 
those  associated  with  him,  and  the  intrinsic  merits  of  the 
cause;  whether  it  would  abide  the  absence  of  outward  grace 
and  outward  favour,  and  in  every  contemptible,  helpless 
condition  in  which  they  might  happen  to  be  found.  For  this 


220  OF  JUDGMENT    TO    COME. 

is  the  inquisition  which  the  Judge  is  hereafter  to  make  of 
us  all. 

Now,  that  every  one  is  able  to  ascertain  this  matter  for 
himself,  I  have  not  any  doubt.  If,  indeed,  we  will  shield 
ourselves  behind  mere  knowledge  and  ineffectual  faith,  be- 
hind moral  and  social  worth,  or  behind  evanescent  feelings, 
and  think  to  escape  under  the  protection  of  mere  moral 
qualities,  we  must  stand  to  the  consequences,  which  cannot 
bm  be  fatal,  of  setting  God's  tribunal  at  nought.  But  if  we 
will  set  about  the  proper  work  of  trying  ourselves  by  the  sa- 
crifices we  have  made  in  Christ's  behalf,  and  the  sincerity 
of  the  same;  by  the  test,  in  short,  as  it  hath  been  applied 
above  to  human  nature,  in  every  form  and  condition  of  so- 
ciety; and  if  we  will  follow  out  the  inquest  with  a  concern 
proportionate  to  its  importance,  we  may  instantly  and  with- 
out a  doubt  ascertain  our  competency  or  incompetency  to 
stand  before  the  tribunal  of  Christ.  In  which  most  solemn 
of  all  personal  inquests,  to  help  the  immortal  soul  which  pe- 
ruseth  these  pages,  we  shall,  for  a  short  while,  leave  the 
justification  of  the  form  of  proofs,  in  order  to  point  out  how 
the  principle  of  it  may  be  applied  by  any  one  to  himself;  af- 
ter which  we  shall  notice  a  religious  prejudice,  and  a  world- 
ly prejudice  upon  the  subject  of  Judgment  to  come,  and  so 
dismiss  the  subject  for  one  still  more  awful. 

Though  Christ  in  our  kingdom  be  not  maltreated  after 
the  manner  mentioned  in  the  text,  nor  any  of  his  followers, 
at  least  in  so  public  a  way  as  to  come  under  our  eye,  yet 
the  righteous  are  ever  and  anon  meeting  from  God's  provi- 
dence with  trials  of  loss  and  with  visitations  of  sickness, 
which  are  not  far  from  the  observation  of  those  who  care 
about  such  matters;  and,  seeing  so  much  is  to  depend  upon 
the  help,  we  have  rendered  to  the  disabled  members  of 
Christ,  it  seems  to  me  that  a  Christian  should  go  out  of  his 
way  to  find  such  instances,  if  he  wish  to  put  his  calling  and 
election  to  the  proper  test.  If  the  pe6ple  of  God  are  not  now 
to  be  met  with  in  prisons,  or  skulking  unbefriended  in  want 
of  bread,  water,  and  clothing,  as  they  were  a  century  and  a 
half  ago,  they  may  still  be  found  pressed  with  misfortune, 
or  struggling  hard  to  keep  their  honourable  name,  weighed 
down  with  poverty,  or  buffetted  by  the  scorn  and  malice  of 
the  wicked.  These  it  is  our  part  with  prudence  to  vindicate 
and  assist,  against  those  who  use  them  ill.  And  if  of  this 
form  of  ailment  there  is  not  much  at  present  in  the  mem- 
bers of  Christ,  whose  superior  activity  and  good  husbandry 
and  good  reputation  do  in  the  end  secure  to  them  prosperi- 


OF   JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  221 

ty,  so  far  as  that  can  be  secured  in  this  changeable  state, 
certainly  from  one  of  the  six  tribulations  they  are  never  ex- 
cluded, by  their  profession  of  Christ,  viz.  the  sickness  or 
sorrow  of  the  flesh;  so  that  here  is  always  one  standard  to 
which  we  can  make  reference  for  the  ascertaining  of  our 
acceptance  in  the  day  of  the  Lord.  If  we  have  been  tender 
in  our  attentions,  and  ready  in  our  offices  around  the  sick- 
bed of  the  righteous;  if  it  went  with  our  heart  to  hear  them 
praise  the  Lord,  and  exalt  the  name  of  their  Redeemer;  if 
the  devout  state  of  their  soul,  and  the  frequent  acts  of  their 
devotion,  and  the  whole  atmosphere  of  their  spirit  were  so 
sweet  -as  oft  to  remove  us  away  from  the  midst  of  gay  com- 
panies and  busy  scenes,  make  us  happy  to  part  the  curtains 
of  their  sick-bed,  and  commune  with  them  of  death  and 
everlasting  life — As  there  is  no  better  test  of  a  pious  man 
than  to  see  him  oft  at  the  sick-bed  of  the  pious,  so  there  is 
no  place  which  you  will  sooner  discern  the  spirit  of  any 
man.  The  wicked  will  generally  be  silent,  struck  by  the 
scene  into  cogitations  of  their  own  unprovided  state;  the 
worldly,  who  live  in  an  honest,  inoffensive  way,  but  igno- 
rant and  thoughtless  of  futurity,  will  be  ever  suggesting 
hopes  of  speedy  recovery,  and  schemes  of  healthy  enjoy- 
ment; but  the  pious  man  will  be  ever  endeavouring  after 
serious  thought,  suggesting  pious  meditation  and  impressing 
solemn  moods  upon  every  one  present.  Insomuch,  that  judg- 
ing by  this  single  test,  which  is  the  only  one  of  the  six  that 
remains  in  direct  operation  amongst  us,  we  may  conclude 
that  those  six  things  which  are  to  be  made  the  tests  hereafter 
of  the  righteous,  will  be  found,  wherever  they  occur  in  the 
present  life,  to  be  the  six  best  marks  that  could  be  chosen 
for  determining  a  spiritual  from  a  formal  disciple  of  the 
Lord. 

But  though  we  have  only  one  of  these  extreme  troubles 
of  Christ  and  Christians  presented  to  our  eyes  in  these  fa- 
voured realms,  we  have  them  all  presented  from  a  distance 
to  our  ears  and  our  sympathies;  and  though  we  cannot  our- 
selves make  pilgrimages  to  their  relief,  we  have  those  who 
are  willing  to  undertake  the  hazard,  and  bear  our  offerings 
to  the  needful  members  of  Christ  in  foreign  parts.  For,  to 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  honour  of  this  country,  his  chosen 
seat,  we  have  members  of  every  denomination  of  Christians, 
chosen  and  approved,  and  commissioned  members  of  Christ, 
labouring  in  the  midst  of  hunger  and  nakedness,  and  peril 
and  sword,  in  every  region  of  the  globe:  from  whom,  were 
you  to  withdraw  your  charitable  sustenance,  they  would 

2^) 


222  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

sink  into  all  these  six  conditions  of  affliction.  The  Mission- 
aries are  Christ's  mendicant  and  pitiful  members,  whose 
trying  case  and  urgent  labours  are  ever  sounded  in  your 
ears.  You  may  judge  each  one  for  himself,  whether  your 
sympathy  with  their  services  and  privations,  and  your  rea- 
diness to  succour  them  be  such,  as  would  lead  \  ou  to  per- 
form the  very  services  mentioned  in  our  text,  to  Christ,  or 
to  the  least  of  his  brethren,  if  you  saw  them  within  reach 
in  these  six  deplorable  conditions.  I  allow  that  one  may  aid 
the  missionary  work  who  would  not  stand  the  fiery  trial  in 
these  six  perilous  ways;  but  I  can  hardly  allow  the  converse, 
that  one  who  doth  not  fetl  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
missionary  work,  but  seizes  every  occasion  to  asperne  it, 
would  stand  by  the  cause  in  such  perilous  extremes,  and  he 
has  reason  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  his  professions. 

To  advert  to  more  inward  considerations,  and  refer  the 
matter  home  to  conscience,  I  am  certainly  within  the  mark 
when  I  ask,  if  you  feel  a  cordial  affection  to  Christ  and  his 
followers  under  the  disrepute  to  which  they  are  subjected, 
and  can  brave  the  names  of  Methodist,  and  Enthusiast,  and 
Puritan,  with  which  they  are  wont  to  be  branded  by  the 
lords  of  the  creation?  If  a  Christian  man  for  his  master's 
single  sake  hath,  under  every  envious  veil,  a  higher  place 
in  your  esteem  than  another,  though  he  be  loaded  with  fa- 
vours, hailed  by  fame,  and  served  by  all  the  ministers  of 
rank  and  state?  If,  when  a  strange  man  is  presented  to  your 
knowledge,  you  do  take  cognizance  of  his  Christian  graces 
or  his  worldly  dignities,  whether  you  estimate  him  by  his 
godly  or  his  worldly  estate?  If  you  yourselves,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  your  several  powers,  and  the  occupation  of  your 
several  places,  do  consult  for  the  promotion  ot  the  Gospel, 
or  for  the  advancement  of  your  fortune,  your  favour,  and 
your  enjoyment? 

These  six  conditions  of  misery  we  stated  to  be  six  points 
from  which  men  steer  a  persevering  course:  and  we  now 
ask  whether,  in  steering  that  course  away  and  keeping  aloof 
from  them,  you  keep  in  view  the  saving  of  Christ's  reputa- 
tion as  much  as  the  gaining  of  the  end  agreeable  to  human 
nature?  The  tests  to  which  each  man  is  to  bring  himself, 
in  order  to  ascertain  how  he  shall  appear  in  the  judgment, 
are  the  sacrifices  he  doth  make  of  his  natural  likings  and  pe- 
culiar advantages,  lest  the  credit  of  Christ  and  his  cause 
should  be  trampled  upon  in  reaching  them.  We  are  all 
postiiig  from  hunger,  thirst,  nakedness,  friendlessness,  sick- 
ness and  confinement^  with  what  haste  we  may:  we  are  all 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  22S 

hastening  towards  the  luxuries  of^  diet  and  dress,  the  en- 
largt  menc  of  friendship,  our  enj<)yment  and  our  liberty,  with 
what  haste  we  may:  and  the  question  is,  whether  in  shun- 
ning the  one  and  pressing  to  the  other,  we  do  make  more 
account  of  Christ  than  of  all  the  pleasure  and  the  advantage 
which  we  have  in  view.  Is  there  any  bribe  of  money?  for 
money  is  but  the  representative  of  the  means  and  orna- 
mejus  of  life,  which  the  test  requireth  us  to  underrate.  Is 
there  any  bribe  of  rank  and  station  and  place?  for  these  are 
only  the  representative  of  a  well-befriended  condition,  which 
the  lest  requireth  us  to  underrate.  Is  there  any  indulgence 
or  gratification  of  the  bodily  appetitesf  for  that  is  only  the 
opposite  of  pain,  which  the  test  requireth  us  to  underrate- 
any  enlargement  of  power,  which  is  but  the  opposite  of  con- 
finement; any,  or  all  of  these,  which  can  bribe  us  into  the 
oblivion  of  our  Christian  principles,  induce  us  to  forego 
Christ's  favour,  or  bring  contumely  upon  Christ's  cause,  or 
wound  the  conscience  of  Christ's  meanest  disciple^  For  ve- 
rily, if  these  things,  which  are  but  like  the  signals  of  dan- 
ger and  alarms  of  the  approaching  contest,  do  carry  it  over 
our  Christian  fidelity,  it  is  not  possible  that  we  should  stand 
against  the  actual  trials,  or  stand  by  those  who  are  under 
them;  neither  is  it  possible  that  God  will  acquit  us  at  the 
judgment,  when  he  perceives  that  the  world  could  array  to 
us  a  treat  which  was  more  engaging  than  Christ  in  all  his 
honours,  and  how  much  more  engaging  still  than  Christ  be- 
set with  all  the  six  evils  mentioned  in  the  judgment. 

I  have  reviewed  what  I  have  written  above,  respecting 
the  question  itself,  and  respecting  the  immortal  soul  wliich 
peruseth  these  pages,  yet  I  cannot,  I  dare  not  extenuate  any 
thing  of  its  severe  and  solemn  purport.  It  is  not  equivalent 
to  the  letter  of  the  revelation,  nor  such  as  an  apostle  or  a 
prophet,  or  the  tenderest,  best  friend  of  man  would  have 
denounced  against  this  generation.  Therefore  I  must  go  on 
with  my  heavy  task,  and  solemnly  declare  that  this  protocol 
of  eternal  judgment  cuts  off  from  all  hope  those  who  hope 
on  grounds  not  distinctively  Christian.  It  turns  singly  upon 
the  services  done  to  Christ  and  to  his  cause.  It  makes  no 
allusion  to  sweetness  of  natural  disposition,  goodness  of  na- 
tural temper,  attainments  in  knowledge,  public  spirit,  good 
name,  or  noble  deeds.  The  only  thing  mentioned  is  a  ten- 
der interest  in  Christ  and  his  suffering  members.  1  here- 
fore,  all  ornaments  of  this  world,  and  all  social  qualities, 
cannot  of  themselves  avail.  In  every  Christian  country 
where   the  knowledge  of  Christ  is  held  forth,  the  people 


224  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

must  be  divided  into  twp  classes — those  who  esteem  it  in 
their  hearts,  and  are  willing  to  undergo  the  six  perils  of  life 
for  its  sake,  and  those  who  hold  it  cheap,  or  make  a  form 
of  it,  but  when  times  of  trial  and  temptation  come,  straight- 
way fall  away.  This  is  the  pres'ent  division  that  will  mike 
final  decision;  and  this  of  all  present  divisions  is  the  only 
one  that  will  last  eternally.  I  judge  this  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance, and  would  impress  it  with  all  my  ability;  for  the 
age,  through  the  public  favour  which  religion  hath, is  grown 
full  of  profession  and  approbation  of  the  faith,  and  vehe- 
ment down-crying  of  all  blasphemy  and  opposition,  while 
at  heart,  we  fear,  it  is  lukewarm  to  Christ  for  his  own  sake; 
and  were  he  to  appear  hungry,  naked,  in  rags  and  in  prison, 
would  not  abide  long  in  its  constancy.  Because  there  is  no 
call  for  us  to  make  these  stands  upon  the  extreme  edges  of 
misery,  we  need  the  more  to  try  ourselves  internally  with 
vigilance,  in  ordtr  to  discover  whether,  for  the  esteem  that 
in  our  rank  of  life  follows  good  and  serious  courses,  or  the 
hereditary  reverence  of  what  our  fathers  reverenced,  we 
continue  our  constancy;  or  whether  like  our  fathers,  we 
should  be  able,  in  case  of  need,  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things 
for  his  sake — to  forsake  father  and  mother  and  brother  and 
sister,  and  our  own  life  also,  that  we  might  be  his  disciple. 
It  amuses  me  much  to  see  on  what  grounds  they  take 
themselves  to  be  good,  responsible  Christians;  or  rather,  I 
should  say,  it  chills  my  blood  to  think  what  hosts  of  men 
are  self-deceived,  when  I  look  to  the  nature  of  these  awful 
tests.  There  are  high-toned  men,  who  make  a  joke  of  the 
meanness  of  Methodism,  and  call  their  churches  a  sort  of 
shops,  by  contradistinction  with  other  religious  fabrics; 
there  are  a  multitude  more,  who  are  taken  with  the  wealth 
and  splendour  and  state  of  religion,  feefing  solemn  moods 
of  mind  under  "  fretted  arches  and  long-drawn  aisles,"  and 
the  parade  of  form  and  ceremony,  and  the  touching  influ- 
ence of  melodious  sounds;  but  cannot  find  these  sokmn 
touches  of  soul,  under  the  mean,  unformal  rites  of  other 
places.  Now,  I  say,  that  these  men  cannot  look,  cannot 
seek  to  pass  this  awful  muster  of  the  judgvaent  day.  It  is 
not  Christ  dismantled,  but  Christ  invested,  that  they  fon- 
dle; it  is  not  Christ's  hungry  and  thirsty  members,  but 
Christ's  goodly  raiments,  that  take  them  with  rapture,  and 
they  would  shun  the  first  summons  to  visit  a  poor  disciple 
in  a  prison — and  they  would  scorn  to  worship  Christ  in  a 
conventicle.  Now,  I  must  not  be  mistaken  because  I  utter 
unpalatable  truth,  as  if  I  looked  sour  on  stately  services  or 


OF  JUDGMEINT  TO  COME.  225 

ample  ceremonies.  If  they  have  a  right  meaning,  and  serve 
good  ends  of  tuning  the  mind,  let  them  be  prized  according 
to  their  worth.  Neither  do  I  disparage  mere  sublunary  and 
moral  accomplishments,  but  am  much  gratified  wherever  I 
find  them  to  consist  with  honesty  of  heart.  But  I  say  that 
these  will  not  pass  the  solemn  tribunal,  if  we  are  to  take  the 
measure  from  these  verses  which  are  before  us.  There 
must  be  a  strong  and  decisive  attachment  to  Christ;  and  to 
the  cause  of  Christ,  however  meanly  it  may  be  arrayed, 
however  loudly  decried,  however  hardly  mistreated. 

It  may  be  unpleasant  to  state  th6  truth  so  firmly,  but  the 
truth  must  be  spoken  in  a  case  where  the  eternity  of  each 
soul  that  readeth  is  concerned.  Therefore  be  it  understood, 
that  no  accomplishments  of  body  or  of  mind,  no  attainments 
in  the  favour  of  princes  or  priests  or  the  sons  of  men,  will 
countervail  the  crime  of  undervaluing  the  humblest,  mean- 
est servant  of  Christ,  when  he  is  known  to  be  such.  Who- 
soever hath  rejected  him  or  his,  he  will  in  that  day  reject. 
I  do,  therefore,  in  conformity  with  the  law  of  judgment, 
separate  from  hope  all  who  have  lived  in  a  Christian  land, 
but  have  not  made  it  the  object  of  their  life  to  watch  over 
the  interests  of  Christ,  to  whatever  else  they  may  have  de- 
voted themselves.  If  they  have  turned  aside  from  the 
sanctuary  where  his  name  is  praised,  or  from  the  society  of 
the  righteous,  to  whom  his  interests  are  dear,  to  whatever 
else  they  may  have  devoted  themselves.  I  take  no  apology; 
statesmen,  legislators,  nobles,  royalty  itself.  All  who  are 
to  stand  before  this  judgment-seat,  are  to  answer  upon  this 
count, —  If  they  dealt  mercifully  by  the  members  of  Christ, 
and  righteously  by  his  holy  cause,  or  if  they  neglected  both, 
giving  heed  to  other  concerns.  It  is  summary,  and  nothing 
may  be  pleaded  in  excuse  or  arrest  of  judgment.  Occupa- 
tion with  other  matters,  and  ignorance  of  this;  the  high 
sphere  of  rank  and  business  in  which  we  moved;  the  stream 
of  custom  carrying  us  past  these  trifling  objects — nothing 
will  be  admitted  in  extenuation  of  the  capital  crime  of  having 
postponed  the  concerns  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  any  other  which 
are  consulted  for  by  the  busy  world.  He  who  made  and 
preserves  us,  considers  himself  to  have  the  prior  claim,  the 
foremost  claim  of  all;  which  claim  having  made  in  due  form, 
in  most  gainful  and  gracious  terms,  if  we  reject  it,  he  will 
hold  us  guilty,  guilty,  whatever  be  our  character  and  con- 
duct in  other  respects. 

They  may  put  forth  the  plea,  that  Christ  and  his  people 
were  not  by  them  found  subjected  to  the  six  perils  of  human 


226  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

life,  saying,  "  When  saw  we  thee,  or  any  of  thy  people,  hun- 
gry, thirsty,  naked,  sick,  friendless,  or  in  prison,  and  did 
not  minister  to  you?"  still  this  plea,  though  it  may  be  veri- 
tably put  forth,  will  nothing  avail  those  concerning  whom 
we  speak.  The  purport  of  the  question  is — Did  you  make 
common  cause  with  me  and  mine,  or  did  you  not?  If  you 
were  not  for  me,  then  you  were  against  me.  What  tempt- 
ed you  to  go  against  me,  but  the  superior  respect  you  had 
for  the  things  of  time,  and  the  approbation  of  yojr  fellow- 
menf  You  rejected  me  before  men,  therefore  will  I  reject 
you  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  What  was  it 
that  eclipsed  my  cause  from  your  sight,  and  made  it  seem 
paltry  and  insignificant?  it  was  the  splendour  in  which  you 
decked  the  things  of  sense  and  sight,  that  made  me  and 
mine  fade  out  of  your  vision.  Ye  would  not  have  me  to 
rule  over  you;  ye  trampled  my  holy  law  under  your  feet; 
ye  crucified  me  afresh;  ye  put  me  to  an  open  shame.  Ye 
had  no  lot  nor  part  in  me  at  all.  Begone,  begone  to  those 
in  whom  you  had  your  delight,  and  carry  thither  the  orna- 
ments in  which  you  decked  your  body  and  your  mind,  for 
the  admiration  of  all  except  your  God. 

But  while  the  judgment  is  so  stern  to  the  insincere  and 
the  unfriendly,  mark  how  considerate  it  is  of  those  who  are 
really  sincere.  It  is  not  the  value  of  the  service  done  to 
him,  but  the  purity  of  the  motive  from  which  it  is  done,  to 
which  Christ  hath  regard.  The  pledges  he  takes  of  alle- 
giance, the  services  he  asks,  are  of  the  cheapest  and  com- 
monest kind;  a  little  bread,  a  little  water,  a  little  raiment 
yielded  to  the  utmost  necessity,  a  sick  bed  visit,  a  friendly 
action  done  to  the  stranger,  a  consolatory  visit  paid  to  the 
prisoner;  which  actions,  though,  as  hath  been  shown,  they 
be  the  best  tests  of  sincerity  to  his  cause,  yet,  being  the 
smallest  offerings  in  respect  of  value,  are  within  the  power 
of  almost  all  but  those  who  need  the  supply.  In  this  is 
shown  again  the  triumph  of  heart  over  outward  form,  the 
superiority  of  intention  over  outward  action.  The  Gospel 
is  to  the  poor,  from  its  first  opening  to  its  last  winding  up, 
seeing  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  poorest  to  perform  these  of- 
fices no  less  than  of  the  rich.  Had  any  thing  but  the  cup 
of  water  to  a  disciple  in  the  name  of  a  disciple  been  called 
for,  a  large  body  of  disciples  who  have  in  all  ages  proved 
themselves  the  most  stable,  would  have  been  excluded.  But 
Christ,  with  his  usual  tenderness  to  low  estate  and  perfect 
equality  of  privilege  to  all,  puts  the  several  tests  of  judg- 
ment S9  as  altogether  to  exclude  diversity  of  rank  and  dig- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  221 

nity  and  place.  Oh!  had  it  turned  upon  the  value  of  the 
ofFt-ring  we  laid  upon  his  shrine,  had  it  turned  upon  the  se- 
verity of  our  sufferings,  or  the  extent  of  our  labours,  then 
how  happy  would  many  have  been  on  their  death- bed  to 
compromise  the  matter  at  the  price  of  their  entire  fortunes, 
in  the  wane  of  their  life  to  have  compromised  the  matter  by 
ascetic  severities,  or  duriuji  the  prime  of  life  to  have  under- 
gone all  the  six  conditions  enumerated  in  the  text,  and 
reached  htaven  as  a  Fakeer  or  a  Mahomedan  or  a  Catholic 
hf)pes  to  reach  it.  In  several  passages  of  Scripture,  descrip- 
tive of  the  judgment,  the  condemned  are  set  forth  as  plead- 
ing rank  and  station  and  high  services  in  his  church,  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Judge  during  his  personal  ministry, 
earnest  entreaty  for  mercy;  Imt  with  a  high  indignation 
every  plea  is  rejected,  save  this  alone,  that  we  were  not 
ashamed  of  the  low  estate  of  Christ  or  his  people,  but  went 
into  them  and  ministered  to  their  distresses,  and  did  not 
despise  the  lowliest  offices  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  nor  re- 
fuse the  care  of  the  most  destitute  who  belonged  to  him. 

Now  that  in  this  exposition  of  the  eternal  judgment  I 
have  spoken  so  much  of  sacrifices  on  Christ's  account,  it 
seemeth  to  me  safe  (although  1  think  my  meaning  cannot 
possibly  have  been  mistaken)  to  put  in  this  saving  clause, 
that  not  large  sacrifices  of  place  and  honour,  large  endow- 
ments for  his  service,  large  exertions  for  the  cause  of  his 
church,  will  not  avail  to  procure  acquittal  at  that  inflexible 
judgment,  unless  sustained  and  borne  out  by  a  righteous 
and  holy  life,  and  the  purest  acts  of  mercy  and  benevolence. 
There  are  amongst  us  eloquent  Christians,  and  public  spi- 
rited Christians;  Christians  who  brave  for  the  Saviour  the 
cold  sneers  of  the  senate-house,  and  the  scowling  suspicion 
of  the  disaffected  to  Christ;  Christians,  likewise,  who  give 
largely  of  their  substance  to  religious  institutions,  and  others 
who  cross  the  ocean  and  gird  the  world  round  with  voyages, 
and  penetrate  pathless  deserts,  and  lay  them  down  and  die 
befteath  scorching  suns,  scathed  and  shrivelled  up  prema- 
turely by  desert  and  tropic  winds — all  for  the  sake  of  Christ. 
But  even  this  will  not  avail  alone,  A  few  ages  ago,  there 
"Were  crusaders,  bravest  of  the  brave;  and  severe  anchorites, 
*'  the  moss  their  bed,  their  drink  the  chrystal  well;"  and 
nuns,  who  devoted  stainless  virginity  unto  Christ;  and  mis- 
sionary Jesuits,  who  girded  the  wofld  also  with  their  jour- 
neyings,  and  scaled  to  the  very  right  hand  of  royal  supre- 
macy,  and  polished  the  savage  denizens  of  the  forest,  who 
live  not  in  habitations  of  men,  but  upon  trees  like  the  fowls 


22S  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

of  heaven;  and  there  were  belted  warriors,  and  knights  of 
noble  chivalry,  and  princes  of  royal  line  who  founded  and 
endowed  whole  abbeys  and  domains — all  for  the  sake  of 
Christ.  But  even  this  will  not  avail  alone.  And  in  the 
Apostolic  tinfies,  the  most  glorious  far  in  the  history  of  the 
church,  there  were  those  who  could  speak  with  the  tongues 
of  men  and  of  angels  in  behalf  of  Christ,  who  had  the  gift 
of  prophecy,  and  understood  mysteries,  and  had  faith  to 
cast  out  devils  and  do  many  wonderful  works,  but  who, 
from  want  of  righteousness  and  charity,  were  as  nothing, 
whom  the  Saviour  says  he  will  cast  away  with  most  sove- 
reign indignation  from  his  presence. 

That  none  of  these  splendid  acts  of  self-devotion  will 
purchase  a  right  to  acquittal  at  this  holy  tribunal,  being  signs 
either  of  holiness  or  of  enthusiasm,  is  manifest  from  every 
part  of  Scripture  where  the  judgment  is  described,  which, 
though  we  have  not  quoted  them,  we  have  endeavoured  to 
weave  into  this  exposition.  Every  word  and  secret  thought, 
no  less  than  every  overt  act,  are  to  be  called  into  question. 
Large  catalogues  are  given  of  the  affections  and  works  which 
sink  the  soul  into  everlasting  darkness;  and  these  six  tests 
which  pass  us  into  heaven,  are,  as  hath  been  often  said,  no 
less  than  the  six  ultimate  acts  of  devotion  and  obedience, 
the  six  most  unequivocal  marks  of  true  disciples  and  ser- 
vants of  Christ.  So  that,  in  fine,  it  comes  in  other  words 
to  this  virtuous  issue;  that  nothing  will  avail  but  distinct, 
well-defined  acts  of  personal  holiness;  distinct,  well-defined 
renouncements  of  evil  habits;  distinct  and  well-defined  tri- 
umphs over  natural  appetites,  and  forbidden  customs — the 
purifying  of  the  soul  and  the  dedicating  of  the  life  to  Christ. 
Nothing,  to  be  particular,  but  the  abandonment  of  the  works 
of  darkness,  which  are  these: — fornication,  wickedness,  co- 
vetousness;  maliciousness,  envies,  strifes;  deceits,  maligni- 
ties, whisperings;  backbitings,  hatred  of  God,  despite;  pride, 
boasting,  evil  inventions,  disobedience  of  parents,  breaches 
of  covenant,  darkening  of  natural  understanding,  want  of 
natural  affection,  implacableness,  unmercifulness.  The  bring- 
ing forth  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  which  are  these: — love, 
joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness;  faith,  meek- 
ness, temperance;  virtue,  knowledge,  patience,  brotherly 
kindness,  and  charity.  This  crucifixion  of  the  old  man  witj:i 
his  corruptions  and  lusts,  and  regeneration  of  the  new  man 
in  the  image  of  God  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness,  not 
only  evidenced  to  the  world  in  outward  acts  of  zeal  and 
piety,  but  evidenced  to  God  in  the  inner  man  of  the  heart, 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  229 

and  to  ourselves  in  a  conscious  love  of  God  and  of  Christ; 
a  restless  longing  after  sanctification,  a  constant  frame  of 
repentance,  prayer,  and  humility,  with  a  bearing  and  rest- 
ing upon  the  promises  of  God  and  the  inwrought  graces  of 
his  Spirit, — this,  no  less,  is  the  form  of  life  and  character 
which  will  pass  the  great  seat  of  judgment,  and  find  favour 
in  the  sight  of  Christ  our  Judge. 

I  should  here  conclude  the  article  of  Judgment,  but  that 
I  think  it  incumbent  on  me  to  notice  two  erroneous  strains 
of  feeling  with  respect  to  it,  the  one  popular  within  the 
church,  the  other  popular  without.  This  same  justification 
at  the  last  day,  which,  in  the  passage  chiefly  referred  to,  is 
made  to  depend  upon  our  works  alone,  is  often  ascribed 
in  Scripture  to  our  faith — "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent 
in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted 
up;  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish  but 
have  everlasting  life."  "  He  that  believeth  on  him  is  not 
condemned;  but  he  that  believeth  not  is  condemned  already, 
because  he  hath  not  believed  on  the  only-begotten  Son  of 
God."  *'''  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life;  whosoever  be- 
lieveth in  me  shall  never  die."  Now,  to  understand  how 
these  consort  with  what  hath  been  already  said,  there  need- 
eth  only  to  be  remembered  what  was  proved  at  large  in  the 
Third  Head  of  this  Discourse,  that  it  is  through  faith  in 
Christ,  those  six  charities  of  life,  that  grave  speech,  and 
those  pure  thoughts  are  to  be  engendered,  upon  which  the 
stress  of  judgment  to  come  is  laid.  Unless  Christ  be  re- 
ceived into  our  hearts  as  the  messenger  sent  from  God  to 
teach  us,  we  never  can  be  obedient  to  his  discipline;  and,  as 
hath  been  showed  in  the  place  referred  to,  until  he  is  re- 
ceived as  our  deliverance  from  self  accusing  conscience,  we 
shall  never  make  such  progress  in  his  ways  as  will  enable  us 
to  pass  the  great  reviewal  of  our  life.  So  that,  to  all  attain- 
ments in  the  righteousness  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  strength 
and  constancy  of  faith  must  contribute. 

It  is  vain  to  think  there  can  be  any  fruits  without  faith, 
or  that  the  faith  God  prizes  will  be  dormant  without  fruits. 
Therefore  if  we  have  had  genuine  faith,  there  is  no  need 
that  we  should  skulk  from  inquisition  behind  its  screen;  if 
we  feel  disposed  to  do  so,  it  is  proof  positive  that  it  was 
not  genuine.  If  it  hath  been  such  faith  as  Christ  sets  store 
by,  then  by  the  fruits  it  will  have  displayed  itself,  and  the 
knowledge  of  these  fruits  will  make  it  manifest.  Now  it  is 
these  fruits  which  God  bringeth  to  light;  and  in  bringing 
them  to  light,  he  doth  take  the  onlv  method  of  bringing 

30 


2S0  Oi'  JUDGMEINT  TU    COMB. 

our  faith  to  light.  So  that,  if  faith  have  not  served  its  office 
before  that  time,  it  is  a  dead  letter  then;  and  if  it  have  serv- 
ed its  good  office,  there  is  no  need  to  make  words  about 
the  matter.  The  question  at  present  is,  whether  we  believe 
or  disbelieve,  because  to  disbelieve  Christ,  with  all  his  com- 
mendatory graces  and  benefits,  doth  indicate  a  rebellious 
and  debased  spirit,  most  unsafe  to  die  and  go  to  judgment 
with.  But  the  question  hereafter  is  not.  Do  you  believe? 
but.  Have  you  believed?  to  ascertain  which  question,  the 
heart  of  the  party  is  bared,  and  his  life  unrolled;  and  if  it 
appear  to  the  judge  unequivocal,  he  stands  acquitted,  if  not, 
he  stands  condemned. 

Notwithstanding  the  clearness  of  these  principles,  and 
their^coincidence  with  all  which  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
have  written  both  of  judgment  and  of  faith,  1  am  convinc- 
ed, from  the  constant  demand  of  the  religious  world  for  the 
preaching  of  faith  and  forgiveness,  and  their  constant  kick- 
ing against  the  preaching  of  Christian  morals;  the  constant 
appetite  for  mercy,  and  disrelish  of  righteousness  and  judg- 
ment; or  if  righteousness,  it  be  the  constant  demand  that  it 
should  be  the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ,  not  our  own 
personal  righteousness;  from  these  features  of  the  evangeli- 
cal part  of  men,  I  do  greatly  fear,  nay  I  am  convinced  that 
man)  of  them  are  pillowing  their  hopes  upon  something  else 
than  the  sanctification  and  changed  life  which  the  Gospel 
hath  wrouv^ht.  Let  no  one  mistake  me,  (for  though  I  care 
little  about  the  mistake  on  my  own  account,  I  am  too  ni,uch 
concerned  for  the  sake  of  others  in  the  success  of  this  argu- 
ment to  wish  to  be  mistaken)  as  if  I  advocated  salvation 
from  the  wrath  to  come  upon  the  ground  of  self- righteous- 
ness. But  this  I  ai*gue,  and  will  argue,  that  unless  the  helps 
and  doctrines  of  grace,  deservedly  in  such  rqjute,  unless 
the  free  forgiveness  purchased  by  the  death  of  Christ,  the 
sanctification  by  the  work  of  the  Spirit,  and  every  thing  els© 
encouraging  and  consolatory  in  the  word  of  God,  have  ope- 
rated their  natural  and  due  effect  in  delivering  our  members 
from  the  power  of  sin,  and  joining  our  affections  to  Christ 
and  his  poorest  brethren,  and  of  working  deep  and  search- 
ing purification  within  all  the  fountains  of  our  heart;  then 
it  will  only  aggravate  our  condemnation  ten  limes,  that  we 
have  known,  that  we  have  believed,  that  we  have  prized 
these  great  revelations  of  the  power  and  goodness  of  God,  and 
insisted  with  a  most  tyrannical  and  overbearing  sway,  that 
our  pastors  should  hold  on  pronouncing  them  unceasingly, 
unsparingly  Sabbath  after  Sabbath.     I  greatly  fear,  I  say 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  231 

again,  that  this  modern  contraction  of  the  Gospel  into  the 
span  of  one  or  two  ideas,  this  promulgation  of  it,  as  if  it 
were  a  drawling  monotony  of  sweetness,  a  lullaby  for  a  baby 
spirit,  with  no  music  of  mighty  feeling,  nor  swells  of  gran- 
deur, nor  declensions  of  deepest  pathos,  nor  thrilling  themes 
of  terrorj  as  if  it  were  a  thing  for  a  shepherd's  love  sick 
lute,  or  a  sentimentalist's  iEolian  harp,  instead  of  being  for 
the  great  organ  of  human  thought  and  feeling,  through  all 
the  stops  and  pipes  of  this  various  world;  I  say,  I  fear  great- 
ly lest  this  strain  of  preaching  Christ,  the  most  feeble  and 
ineffectual  which  the  Christian  world  hath  ever  heard, 
should  have  lulled  many  into  a  quietus  of  the  soul,  under 
which  they  are  resting  sweetly  from  searching  inquiry  into 
their  personal  estate,  and  will  pass  composedly  through  death 
unto  the  awful  judgment. 

Now  what  difference  is  it,  whether  the  active  spirit  of  a 
man  is  laid  asleep  by  the  comfort  of  the  holy  wafer  and  ex- 
treme unction,  to  be  his  viaticum  and  passport  into  heaven, 
or  by  the  constant  charm  of  a  few  words  sounded  and  sound- 
ed, and  eternally  sounded  about  Christ's  sufficiency  to  save? 
In  the  holy  name  of  Christ,  and  the  three  times  holy  name 
of  God,  have  they  declared  aught  to  men,  or  are  they  ca- 
pable of  declaring  aught  to  men,  which  should  not  work 
upon  men  the  desire  and  the  power  of  holiness?  Why  then 
do  I  hear  the  constant  babbling  about  simple  reliance  and 
simple  dependance  upon  Christ,  instead  of  most  scriptural 
and  sound-minded  calls  to  activitv  and  perseverance  after 
every  perfection.  And,  oh!  they  will  die  mantled  in  their 
vain  delusion,  as  the  Catholic  dies;  and  when  the  soothing 
voice  of  their  consolatory  teacher  is  passed  into  inaudible 
distance,  conscience  will  arise  with  pensive  reflection,  and 
pale  fear,  her  two  daughters,  to  take  an  account  of  the  pro- 
gress and  exact  advance.ment  of  their  mind.  And  should 
she  not  be  able  to  disabuse  them  of  their  rooted  errors,  they 
will  come  up  to  judgment;  and  upon  beholding  the  Judge, 
march  forward  with  the  confidence  of  old  acquaintance,  and 
salute  him, "  Lord,  Lord;"  and  when  he  sitteth  silent,  eye- 
ing them  with  severe  aspect,  they  will  begin  to  wonder  at 
his  want  of  recognizance;  and,  to  aid  his  memory,  make 
mention  of  their  great  advancement  in  the  faith;  **  Lord, 
Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name?  and  in  thy  name 
cast  out  devils?  and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful 
works?"  But  how  shall  their  assurance  stagger  back  upon 
their  minds,  and  sink  them  spiritless  into  uttermost  dismay, 
when  the  Judge,  opening  those  awful  lips  upon  which  hang 


2S2  OP  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

the  destinies  of  worlds,  shall  profess  unto  them,  "  I  never 
knew  you,  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity." 

Now,  upon  the  other  hand,  while  1  deal  freely  by  the  pre- 
judices of  my  religious  brethren,  I  do  but  introduce  myself 
with  the  better  grace  to  speak  as  freely  upon  the  prejudices 
which  the  less  spiritual  part  of  the  world  have  upon  this 
awful  event;  who,  while  they  profess  to  believe  in  Christ, 
do  advance  into  an  equal  place  within  the  temple  of  their 
thoughts  many  other  objects  of  admiration  and  affection, 
at  whose  shrine  they  offer  incense,  so  that  after  a  life  spent 
in  giving  him  only  a  republican  share  of  their  regards,  they 
cannot  see  how  in  the  end  he  should  sit  supreme,  the  Lord 
of  judgment  and  of  fate.  Nor  will  they  cease  to  wonder 
that  ht  should  be  so  advanced,  until  they  come  to  recog- 
nise him  as  the  representative  of  God,  the  all-beholding  so- 
vereign, before  whom  every  action  should  bow  the  knee — 
the  all-hearing  auditor,  into  whose  ear  every  word  should 
breathe  its  confession — and  the  all- conscious  fountain  of  un- 
derstanding, to  whom  every  thought  should  acknowledge 
its  obligations,  and  perform  its  homage.  But  things  being 
accounted  of,  as  they  seem  in  the  eye  of  blinded  nature,  and 
not  brought  to  the  law  of  God,  to  be  there  weighed  in  the 
balance,  it  cometh  to  pass,  that  many  principles  in  them- 
selves amiable,  but  yet  not  so  excellent  as  the  love  of  God, 
are  taken  to  the  heart,  and  many  services  praiseworthy  in 
themselves,  yet  not  so  exalted  or  enlarged  as  the  service  of 
Christ,  are  followed  after.  Now,  those  who  know  no  bet- 
ter than  as  blinded  nature  teacheth,  do  offer  no  contempt  to 
God  in  not  using  his  noble  discipline  and  guidance  of  the 
soul,  which  they  know  notj  and  if  they  do  reverence  to  the 
good  instincts  which  he  hath  implanted  within  their  breasts, 
I  do  think  that  the  amiable  sentiments  of  nature  and  the 
praiseworthy  pursuits  of  the  worthy  will  stand  them  in  stead 
before  the  Judge  of  all.  But  not  so  to  us,  who  have  had 
the  horn  of  God's  treasures  emptied  into  our  lap,  and  the 
oil  of  his  consolation  and  joy  poured  over  our  head,  and 
have  rejected  the  use  and  blessing  of  them,  to  follow  after 
nature's  and  the  world's  ruler;  not  to  us  will  they  stand  in 
any  stead!  For,  are  we  not  bound  to  listen  unto  the  voice 
of  him  who  made  us,  even  though  not  bringing  a  gift;  and 
is  it  not  guilty  in  the  creature  to  spurn  his  parental  Creator 
and  Preserver,  when  uttering  his  good  will?  how  much  more 
obligated  to  receive  him  kindly,  when  bringing  ten  thou- 
sand institutions  of  good,  and  bonds  of  tender  love!  how 
much  more  guilty,  if  we  turn  a  heedless  mind  and  a  callous 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  233 

heart  to  his  offerings,  and  spurn  him  from  the  tabernacles 
"whtre  he  keepeth  us,  and  which  he  would  fain  overshadow 
with  his  gract! 

Thinkest  thou  then,  my  brother,  because  thou  art  follow- 
ing after  stainless  honour,  diligently  avoiding  all  meanness 
and  untruth  and  ignoble  ways;  or,  because  thou  art  follow- 
ing after  honest  traffic,  diligently  shunning  injustice  or 
wrongous  advantage  or  usurious  gains;  or,  because  thou  art 
following  after  the  liberation  of  men  from  political  thraldom, 
fighting  in  th}  courses  against  corruption  and  oppression, 
and  the  rod  of  tyranny;  or,  because  thou  art  following  after 
pure  and  blessed  philanthropy,  visiting  prisons  and  dun- 
geon-glooms, and  midnight  revelries,  and  sickly  hospitals, 
and  doing  thine  utmost  to  medicate  the  natural  maladies 
and  self-inflicted  wounds  of  human  life;  or,  because  thou 
art  escaping  out  of  the  sphere  of  vulgar  ignorance,  to  bask 
above  its  cloudy  region  in  the  everlasting  beams  of  truth 
and  knowledge,  and  bringest  tidings  to  the  wondering 
throng,  of  things  yet  unattempted  and  unknown — Thinkest 
thou,  my  brother,  that  for  one  or  all  of  these  good  and  no- 
ble affections  and  pursuits  of  thy  soul,  thou  shalt  not  be 
challenged  by  thy  Creator,  v^hose  authority  thou  didst  not 
regard  in  thy  manifold  avocations,  and  to  whose  glory  thou 
didst  not  give  the  praise  of  all  which  he  put  it  in  thy  heart 
to  think,  and  enabled  thy  hand  to  perform?  If  thou  dost, 
thou  judgest  far,  far  amiss,  and  hast  need  to  be  disabused 
by  words  of  counsel,  which  for  thy  soul's  sake  I  now  beg 
leave  to  offer  thee. 

These  excellent  and  amiable  pursuits,  which  Nature 
prompts  to  with  a  voice  less  or  more  distinctly  pronounced 
in  every  breast,  and  which  call  forth  the  good  parts  of  her 
consciousness,  and  draw  out  the  admiration  of  others  over 
the  head  of  envy  and  every  bad  principle,  are  worthy  of  all 
your  estimation;  and  may  his  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of 
his  mouth  who  would  enter  into  argument  against  them! 
Now  if  God  did  withdraw  your  footsteps  from  such  high 
walks  of  virtue,  I  should  hesitate  once  or  twice  whether  it 
was  better  to  listen  to  him  or  not.  But,  seeing  he  doth  but 
lift  another  voice  in  harmony  with  Nature's  voice  in  their 
behalf,  and  superadd  to  the  rewards  from  within  and  from 
without,  a  greater  reward  from  above;  and,  that  you  may 
not  by  obstacles  be  impeded,  or  by  discouragement  be  down- 
cast, doth  offer  you  every  aid  and  needful  instrument,  and 
whisper  into  your  ear  that  his  Almighty  power  is  on  your 
side,  and  will  enable  you  to  surmount  every  let  and  hin- 


2^4t  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

drance, — why  should  you  refuse  to  take  hiip  to  your  side  as 
a  coadjutor,  or  to  acknowledge  him  as  your  leader,  and 
render  to  him  the  glory  of  your  success?  Is  it  a  hard  thing 
for  thee  to  march  under  the  banner  of  him  that  is  the  Al- 
mighty? is  it  a  debasing  thing  to  acknowledge  as  thy  chief 
the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth?  is  it  a  slavish  thing  to  be  in^ 
debted  for  counsel  and  for  further  strength  to  the  Creator 
who  gave  thee  thy  present  counsel  and  meted  out  to  thee  thy 
present  strength?  Nay,  but,  my  brother,  is  it  not  a  proud 
thing  in  thee  to  give  him  no  acknowledgment  for  thine  excel- 
lent parts  of  nature?  And  is  it  not  a  disloyal  thing  for  thee  to 
make  a  head  for  thyself,  when  thy  Captain  summoneth  all  fen- 
cible  men  to  march  to  his  help  against  the  mighty?  And  in  the 
litde  head  thou  makest  for  thyself  in  the  battle,  is  it  not  most 
contemptuous  for  thee  to  leave  the.  lines,  and,  like  a  vain, 
vapouring,  unsoldierly  bravo,  go  tilting  on  thine  own  plea- 
sure and  responsibility?  Then  at  thy  responsibility  be  it; 
and  if  by  court-martial  thou  be  condemned,  whom  hast  thou 
to  blame  but  thy  proud  and  petulant  self? 

But  1  seem  to  myself  to  mince  the  matter  with  the  world 
in  my  wish  to  embrace  them  with  the  brotherly  tenderness 
of  this  argument.  For  upon  looking  at  these  virtuous  avo- 
cations of  men  with  a  less  complaisant  and  juster  eye,  I 
do  perceive  that  they  often  exalt  themselves  into  a  head  and 
leading  against  Christ,  and  become  nestling-places  for  those 
high-faculties  of  human  nature  which  are  too  high  to  stoop 
to  be  counselled  by  him  that  is  the  Almighty.  I  do  find 
your  men  of  honour,  arching  their  proud  brows  at  the  harm- 
less glories  of  a  Christian;  and  your  men  accomplished  in 
incorruptible  honesty,  presuming  thereupon  to  claim  a  free 
passage  into  heaven,  and  setting  at  nought  our  self- veiling 
doctrines;  and  your  public-spirited  advocates  ot  good  go- 
vernment, I  do  find  sneering  upon  the  self-government  of 
the  Christian,  and  screening  private  delinquency  behind 
public  spirit,  dying  in  the  faith  that  mere  patriotism  will 
save  a  man,  and  requiring  the  same  sentiment  to  be 
sculptured  on  their  tombs.  And  your  philanthropists,  (be 
Howard  for  ever  an  excej^tion,  who  appointed  for  the  pane- 
gyric of  his  tomb,  "  In  Christ  is  my  trust,")  I  do  frequent- 
ly find  magnifying  their  deeds  and  making  them  honoura- 
ble, and  placing  their  everlasting  confidence  upon  their  cha- 
ritable works.  And  for  Knowledge — she  is  as  vain  as  the 
plumed  peacock,  and  stretcheth  out  her  neck  on  high,  and 
calleth  to  the  stars  of  heaven  to  magnify  her  greatness. 
The  sons  of  knowledge  or  fancy,  having  gotten  a  spark  from 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  2S5 

heaven,  or  it  may  be  from  hell,  make  themselves  gods,  and 
say  unto  the  populous  world.  What  are  ye  without  us? 
Truly  these,  when  accurately  examined,  must  be  pronounced 
broadly  out  to  be  no  better  than  wicked  idolaters,  each  in 
his  proper  temple,  of  the  idol  that  dwelleth  therein,  and 
despisers  of  the  only  living  and  true  God. — And  we  behove 
to  speak  to  them  in  sterner  language  than  we  used  above. 

Hear,  then,  ye  despisers,  and  perish!  Is  it  a  less  crime 
for  a  philosopher,  a  man  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  to 
despise  God,  than  for  an  ignorant  and  unlettered  man?  Is  it 
a  less  crime  for  a  sceptred  monarch  to  despise  the  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  than  for  a  labouring  peasant  or 
a  poverty-stricken  beggar,  who  eameth  a  poor  pittance  from 
providence?  Is  it  a  less  crime  for  a  speculative  statesman, 
who  knows  and  covets  good  government,  to  despise  the  go- 
vernmeut  of  God,  than  for  a  slave  who  knoweth  only  the 
government  of  the  lash?  Or  for  a  man  who  knoweth  the  sa- 
crifices of  mercy,  is  it  less  crime  to  despise  the  inestimable 
sacrifice  of  Christ  for  mercy's  sake?  or  for  a  man  who  sit- 
teth  in  his  house  at  home  at  his  ease,  is  it  a  less  crime  to 
neglect  to  study  the  ways  of  God,  than  it  is  for  low  born, 
hard-toiled,  unenlightened  men?  Whence,  then,  in  the  name 
of  sacred  truth  and  justice,  this  whining,  puling  pity,  that 
these  sovereigns  of  their  various  spheres  should  be  turned 
to  the  left  with  the  throngs  which  they  served  to  mislead? 
It  is  both  bad  philosophy  and  spurious  sentiment,  that  the 
mind  should  shrink  and  misgive  for  their  sakes,  as  if  they 
were  not  the  most  privileged  and  therefore  the  most  respon- 
sible of  men.  Nay,  verily,  I  am  for  swaying  the  other  way, 
and  pitying  the  poor  ignorant,  misguided  man;  the  un- 
lettered, untutored  rustic;  the  wretches  bom  under  evil 
stars  of  vice,  and  bred  amidst  the  contagions  of  evil.  But 
my  soul  is  like  flint  and  steel  against  these  proud,  outrage- 
ous despisers  of  God,  who,  though  nursed  in  the  lap  of  his 
providence,  and  cast  in  the  finest  mould  of  nature,  and 
basked  on  by  the  sunshine  of  knowledge,  entertain  for  his 
ordinances  a  high  despite,  taste  his  blessings  with  ingrati- 
tude, and,  but  for  Death  the  destroyer,  would  I  believe,  set 
up  themselves  for  gods,  and  lord  it  over  the  very  spirits  of 
their  kind.  No,  no;  we  have  enough  of  this  sycophancy  of 
the  soul,  this  unbonneting  of  manhood,  and  selling  of  even- 
handed  judgment  in  time,  to  let  it  go  further.  Verily,  these 
qualities,  according  to  their  estimable  degree,  have  in  time 
that  estimation  which  alone  they  sought,  and,  having  siimed 
no  further,  they  will  not  reach  any  further.    God  will  have 


2i6  OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME. 

a  rewarding  time  for  himself,  a  reaping  time  for  righteous- 
ness and  piety. 

And  shall  not  God  have  a  reaping  time  for  righteousness 
and  piety**  Shall  science  reward  her  servants  with  know- 
ledge and  with  fame,  with  honour  and  with  power;  shall 
mammon  reward  his  servants  with  wealth  and  pleasures; 
and  temperance  reward  his  servants  with  health  and  beauty; 
and  honesty  bestow  trust;  and  affection  find  affection  in  re- 
turn; and  every  grace  of  life  have  its  season  of  gain,  but 
God  alone  have  no  opportunity  of  rewarding  those  who 
loved  him  and  wrought  for  him  and  suffered  reproach  for 
his  name's  sake,  despising  the  rewards  of  mammon,  ambi- 
tion, luxury  and  pride,  and  affection  itself,  when  they  stood 
in  the  way  of  his  honourable  service!  What  hinders  these 
noble  spirits  from  regarding  the  Lord  God  Omnipotent 
who  reigneth,  and  who  is  surely  higher  than  they?  Why  do 
they  not  stretch  out  their  hands  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  live 
for  ever?  Are  they  too  great  to  come  under  such  a  sover- 
eign— too  learned  to  learn  from  such  a  master — too  well 
employed  to  have  to  do  with  such  occupations — too  exalted 
to  deign  a  look  from  their  several  spheres  upon  the  whole 
dispensation,  except  it  be  a  look  of  scorn?  Well,  well!  let 
them  have  their  elevated  places,  and  bear  them  bravely  in 
their  gallant  courses,  and  nurse  their  enmity  to  God,  and 
their  contempt  of  his  plebeian  ordinances.  But  let  them 
bear  the  brunt  of  the  judgment  which  they  have  braved,  let 
them  reap  as  they  have  chosen  to  sow.  What  is  that  to  us 
that  we  should  whine  and  mope  with  melancholy  over  them 
more  than  over  others? 

I  hope  I  do  not  frown  upon  the  distinctions  of  temporal 
excellence,  which  I  rather  love  and  admire  as  the  ornaments 
of  time;  but  I  will  not  exalt  the  Genius  of  philosophy  or  the 
Muse  of  poetry  or  the  Spirit  of  patriotism,  much  less  will  I 
exalt  the  base  god  of  lucre,  or  the  demon  of  pride  and  pas- 
sion— above  Jehovah,  the  King  of  kings  and  the  Lord  of 
lords.  Nor  will  I  admit  into  my  mind  that  they  shall  shield 
their  favourites,  and  keep  them  secure  in  rebellion  against 
the  God  of  all  the  earth,  who  alone  doeth  righteously.  I 
think  it  patience  enough  on  the  part  of  the  Most  High  to 
tolerate  these,  the  idols  and  deities  of  our  polished  society; 
to  tolerate  them  in  their  power,  and  their  sutijects  in  their 
idolatrous  rebellion,  for  the  length  of  life,  and  to  stand  by 
begirt  with  grace  and  mercy,  holding  out  proffers  of  for- 
giveness all  the  duration  of  time.  But,  no;  it  is  too  much 
that  he  should  yield  them  a  place  iu  his  heaven,  whence  he 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  2Sl 

cast  out  a  more  knowing,  more  powerful,  more  graceful, 
more  proud  spirit,  and  would  not  endure  him  an  instant,  but 
cast  him  out,  and  all  those  rebellious  though  high-minded 
intelligences,  who  since  that  time  have  usurped  their  seve- 
ral places  upon  the  earth,  and  led  astray  ihosc  bands  of  fol- 
lowers, whom  we  do  piiy,  but  will  neither  encourage  nor 
justify. 


31 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 
PART  VII. 

THE  ISSUES  OF  THE  JUDGMENT. 

In  the  detail  and  defence  which  have  been  just  conclud- 
ed of  the  Last  Judgment,  we  have  entered  into  no  particu- 
lars of  cases;  which  were  an  endless  task,  and  not  convitni- 
ent  to  the  aim  of  a  discourse,  not  meant  to  make  the  scene 
poetically  or  figuratively  striking,  but  to  prove  it  unto  rea- 
son a  fair  and  equitable  transaction.  Therefore  we  took  up 
the  very  words  of  Christ's  description,  and  showed  how 
shortly  and  strikingly,  yet  how  amply  and  severely,  it  brought 
to  trial  the  whole  scope  of  Christian  obedience  and  disobe- 
dience. There  is  not  in  scripture  any  passage  or  expression 
so  beautiful,  so  tender,  so  full  of  pathos,  and  productive  of 
charity,  in  purport  so  perfect  a  criterion,  so  unerring  a  con- 
demnation or  so  satisfactory  an  acquittal,  as  the  few  words 
which  we  have  taken  such  time  to  explain,  and  explained  so 
little  to  our  own  satisfaction.  It  will  be  observed  by  those 
who  are  of  a  logical  and  judicial  turn,  that  there  wanteth  a 
link  to  connect  the  constitution  of  law,  which  we  formerly 
explained,  with  this  method  of  passing  judgment  upon  the 
observance  of  that  law.  The  judirment  turns  altogether,  or 
almost  altogether,  upon  our  personal  attachment  and  per- 
sonal sacrifice  in  Christ's  behalf.  And  what  connexion  hath 
this  with  the  keeping  of  the  very  pure  and  spiritual  law  of 
which  we  discoursed  at  large?  To  this  question,  materials 
for  many  answers  are  furnished  in  the  body  of  the  preced- 
ing description  of  the  solemn  scene.  But  there  is  such  a 
beauty  in  this  connexion,  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  noti- 
cing it  apart. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  after  trying  the  resources  of 
human  ability  against  the  pure  institution  of  God,  we  found 
it  was  not  possible  lor  conscience  to  acquit  herself,  and  that 
she  must  give  in,  overwhelmed  with  helplessness  and  trans- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  239 

gression.  Upon  right  therefore  she  cannot  take  the  prize, 
and  you  perceive  it  is  not  yielded  in  right  of  conscience, 
but  as  a  boon  for  affection  towards  Christ.  Now  it  will  be 
further  remembered,  that  in  order  to  be  delivered  from  this 
dejection  and  despair  of  conscience,  no  resource  of  human 
ingenuity  was  found  available,  and  that  we  were  fain  to  turn 
unto  the  Gospel  of  Christ  as  our  refuge,  and  take  upon 
mercy  that  which  was  denied  to  right.  Then  we  proceeded 
to  sift  the  Gospel  of  mercy  to  the  bottom,  and  find  out, 
whether  a  loose  were  thereby  given  to  licentiousness  and 
disobedience,  and  a  broad  shield  of  forgiveness  cast  over 
the  delinquencies  of  men.  From  this  intjuiry  we  gathered, 
that  the  disciple  of  Christ  and  believer  in  salvation  through 
his  merits,  was  not  set  loose  from  obligation,  or  delivered 
from  one  tittle  of  former  obligation,  but  was  brought  under 
a  new  sort  of  obligation,  and  led  into  a  new  kind  of  obedi- 
ence; that  to  all  the  native  obligations  of  the  law  originat- 
ing in  its  admirable  adaptation  to  human  circumstances, 
there  are  added  all  the  affectionate  and  advantageous  obli- 
gations of  the  gospel  springing  from  the  knowledge  of  God's 
love  in  Christ  and  the  assurance  of  success  through  the 
Spirit;  that  Christ  bound  a  new  knot  between  the  soul  of 
man  and  his  Maker,  composed  of  a  thousand  interlacing 
ties,  of  which  we  cannot  again  afford  to  speak  separately. 
Only  this  was  the  pith  of  the  whole,  that  Christ  was  the  in- 
ter i.edium,  and  that  from  him  all  this  new  life  sprung,  and 
to  him  it  was  in  gratitude  devoted;  that  we  hung  and  were 
suspetided  on  him,  as  a  viceroy  or  vicegerent  for  God  over 
the  affairs  of  our  souFs  salvation,  and  that  through  this  new 
condition,  a  plenty  and  joyfulness  of  obedience  was  yielded, 
which  could  by  no  other  means  have  been  extracted  from 
the  fallen  nature  of  man. 

Now  mark,  how  well  to  this  new  style  and  spirit  of  obe- 
dience, answer  the  style  and  spirit  of  the  judgment!  where- 
of the  pith  and  marrow  are  placed  in  the  strength  of  our  at- 
tachment to  Christ,  which  attachment  is  the  spring,  the 
nourishment,  and  the  measure  of  this  new  obedience.  To 
examine  into  that  attachment  is  therefore  as  good  as  to  exa- 
mine into  this  obedience,  for  the  one  is  like  the  stream 
which  drives  the  other  on;  and  their  race  is  equal.  There 
is  a  coincidence  here  in  itself  so  wise,  that  we  confess  we 
feel  all  that  went  before  upon  law  and  obedience  to  be  in  a 
manner  ri vetted,  and  capable  of  holding  fast. 

Had  the  Judgment  been  detailed  as  an  investigation  of 
individual  actions  (though  it  is  that  in  the  main)— had  it 


S40  OP   JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

been  detailed  as  an  acquittal  given  upon  our  being  found 
commensurate  with  the  demands  of  law  and  conscience,— 
then  there  would  have  been  ground  for  that  most  fatal  of 
all  errors,  that  we  are  to  win  heaven  by  right.  Or  had  our 
account  been  stated  with  its  deficitncies,  and  balanced  out 
of  Christ's  merits — then  the  next  ruinous  error,  that  we  go 
joint  with  the  Saviour  in  the  matter  of  heaven,  would  have 
been  generated.  But  being  made  to  turn  upon  six  evi- 
dences of  affection  and  attachment,  as  if  that  alone  were  ne- 
cessary to  be  ascertained — it  is  made  for  ever  manifest,  that 
hope  of  acquittal  must  be  held  exactly  m  proportion  to  our 
imion  with  Christ,  with  which  degree  of  union  we  showed 
that  our  degree  of  obedience  or  law  keeping  was  exactly 
commensurate.  So  that  obedience,  largest,  strictest  obedi- 
ence is  insured,  while  the  way  to  it,  the  only  way  to  it,  is 
pointed  out,  and  the  two  false  ways  to  it  for  ever  barred  to 
all  who  will  see  truth  and  understand  knowledge. 

With  this  remark,  which  we  conceive  not  only  most  ne- 
cessary to  complete  the  argument,  but  in'  itself  the  most 
important  that  hath  been  made  from  the  very  commence- 
ment of  the  discourse,  we  pass  on  forthwith  to  that  awful 
subject  which  stands  as  the  title  of  this  part,  the  Issues  of 
the  Judgment.  From  which  we  would  shrink  back  utterly 
dismayed,  were  we  not  convinced  that  something  must  be 
said  and  done  to  present  these  subjects  before  the  Court  of 
human  reason,  else  the  blasphemers  of  this  day,  who  make 
reason  their  stalking-horse,  to  come  over  the  credulity  of 
men,  will  utterly  dislodge  both  the  faith  and  the  reverence 
of  future  things  from  the  common  breast,  so  that  a  new 
plantation  of  religion  among  the  common  people  will  in  a 
few  years  be  necessary.  For,  with  all  the  exertions  making 
in  this  day  for  religion's  sake,  at  home  and  abroad,  accom- 
panied with  the  demonstration  of  much  success,  I  am  sa- 
tistied  that  religion  is  retrograding  in  many  quarters.  The 
enemy  is  strengthening  also,  if  Christ  be  strengthening. 
There  is  a  mustering,  as  it  were,  of  both  hosts,  a  gathering 
to  the  conflict.  The  enemy  hath  written  Reason  on  his  re- 
cruiting standard;  and  we  would  also  write  Reason  upon 
the  Christian  standard,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  defeat- 
ing his  malicious  aspersions,  but  for  the  justification  of  the 
truth,  which  we  conceive  to  be  this — That  our  religion  doth 
not  d  nounce  the  rational  or  intellectual  man,  but  addeth 
th»  reto  the  spiritual  man,  and  that  the  latter  flourishes  the 
more  no!jly  under  the  fostering  hand  of  the  former. 

I  enter,  therefore,  into  the  unseen  worlds  which  shall  be 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  241 

built  up  for  the  habitations  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked, 
in  a  cool  rt^asonable  spirit,  invoking  the  help  of  God  to 
guide  my  steps;  and  whosoever  will  accompany  me,  1  pray 
to  do  the  same,  and  not  to  resign  himself  to  the  guidance  of 
m>  judgji^cnt,  which  is  hardly  able  to  guide  myself.  Upon 
the  nature  of  these  two  several  estates  it  is  not  easy  to 
speak  correctly;  and  a  great  deal  of  mischief  has  arisen 
from  inconsidcratt  interpretations  of  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture. '  Of  how  many  light- witted  men,  unto  this  day,  is  the 
constant  psalm-singuig  of  heaven  a  theme  of  scorn;  the  fire 
and  brimstone  of  hell,  a  then\p  of  derision.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  by  how  many  zealous  but  injudicious  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  are  they  the  themes  of  rhapsodies,  which  end 
in  nothing  i)ut  the  tedium  and  disgust  of  those  who  hear. 
Now  these  two,  amongst  many  others,  are  but  emblems  or 
signs,  to  represent  the  nature  of  our  feelings  in  these  seve- 
ral states  of  being,  implying  no  more  the  existence  of  in- 
strumental music  or  of  material  fire,  than  the  name  New 
Jerusalem  implies  that  the  righteous  are  to  dwell  in  a 
cit\ ,  or  the  name  pit  and  lake  of  fire  imply  that  the  wicked 
are  to  swim  for  ever  in  a  dark,  deep  abyss  of  spiry  flames. 
Glorious  bodies  are  not  restored  to  the  righteous  only  to 
strike  a  harp,  nor  imperishable  bodies  to  the  wicked  only  to 
sufler  and  not  dit.  To  the  righteous  they  are  given  to  re- 
new the  connexion  between  sj)irit  and  matter,  which  is  pro- 
ductive even  m  this  fallen  world  of  such  exquisite  delight; 
and  in  order  to  meet  the  nicer  capacities  of  these  new-form- 
ed organs,  a  new  world  is  created,  fair  as  the  sun,  beautiful 
as  the  moon,  fresh  and  verdant  as  the  garden  of  Eden. 
And  around  this  new  habitation  of  the  righteous  is  thrown 
a  wall  like  the  chrystal  wall  of  heaven  itself,  within  which 
nothing  shall  enter  to  hurt  or  to  defile.  There  shall  be  no 
sickness  nor  sorrow  of  countenance,  and  there  shall  be  no 
more  death.  There  shall  be  no  more  stormy  passion,  with 
its  troublous  calm  of  overspent  rage,  and  its  long  wreck  of 
ruin  and  havoc,  which  no  time  can  repair.  No  wars,  nor 
rumours  of  wars,  and  bloodshed  shall  never^again  spot  the 
bosom  of  the  ground;  and  rivalry  shall  no  longer  trouble 
friendship,  nor  jealousy  love;  nor  shall  ambition  divide 
states,  which,  be  they  commonwealths  or  royal  sovereign- 
ties, will  dwell  in  untroubled  peace.  The  cares  of  life  shall 
no  longer  agitate  the  bosom,  and  the  reverses  of  life  be  for 
ever  unknown.  Hunger  and  thirst  shall  no  longer  be  felt, 
and  the  heat  of  the  sun  shall  not  smite  by  day,  nor  the  moon 
by  night. 


2^2  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

Yet  shall  the  happy  creatures  have  enough  to  do,  and  to 
enjoy,  though  there  be  no  misery  to  comfort,  nor  evil  to 
stem,  nor  grief  over  whose  departure  to  rejoice.  Of  huw 
many  cheap,  exquisite  joys  are  these  five  senses  the  inlets! 
and  who  is  he  ihat  can  look  upon  the  beautiful  scenes  of  the 
morning,  lying  in  the  freshness  of  the  dew,  and  the  joyful 
light  of  the  risen  sun,  and  not  be  happy?  Cannot  God  cre- 
ate another  world  many  times  more  fair?  and  cast  over  it  a 
mantle  of  lighi:  many  times  more  lovely?  and  wash  it  with 
purer  dew  than  ever  dropped  from  tbe  eyelids  of  the  morn- 
ing? Can  he  not  shut  up  winter  in  his  hoary  caverns,  or 
send  him  howling  over  another  domain?  Can  he  not  iorm 
the  chrystal  eye  more  full  of  sweet  sensations,  and  fill  the 
soul  with  a  richer  faculty  of  conversing  with  nature,  than 
the  most  gifted  poet  did  ever  possess?  Think  you  the  crea- 
tive function  of  God  is  exhausted  upon  this  dark  and  trou- 
blous ball  of  earth?  or  that  this  body  and  soul  of  human  na- 
ture are  the  master-piece  of  his  architecture?  Who  knows 
what  new  enchantment  of  melody,  what  new  witchery  of 
speech,  what  poetry  of  conception,  what  variety  of  design, 
and  what  brilliancy  of  execution,  he  may  endow  the  human 
faculties  withal — in  what  new  graces  he  may  clothe  nature, 
with  such  various  enchantnsent  of  hill  and  dale,  woodland, 
rushing  streams,  and  living  fountains;  with  bowers  of  bliss 
and  sabbath-scenes  of  peace,  and  a  thousand  forms  of  dis- 
porting creatures,  so  as  to  make  all  the  world  hath  beheld, 
to  seem  like  the  gross  picture  with  which  you  catch  infants; 
and  to  make  the  eastern  tale  of  romances,  and  the  most  rapt 
imagination  of  eastern  poets  like  the  ignorant  prattle  and 
rude  structures  which  first  delight  the  nursery  and  after- 
wards ashame  our  riper  years. 

Again,  from  our  present  establishment  of  affections,  what 
exquisite  enjoyment  springs,  of  love,  of  friendship,  and  of 
domestic  life.  For  each  one  of  which  God,  amidst  this 
world's  faded  glories,  hath  preserved  many  a  temple  of 
most  exquisite  delight.  Home,  that  word  of  nameless 
charms;  love,  that  inexhaustible  theme  of  sentiment  and 
poetry;  all  relationships,  parental,  conjugal,  and  filial,  shall 
arise  to  a  new  strength,  graced  with  innocency,  undisturbed 
by  apprehension  of  decay,  unruffled  by  jealousy,  and  un- 
weakened  by  time.     Heart  shall  meet  heart — 

"  Each  other's  pillow  to  repose  divine." 

The  tongue  shall  be   eloquent  to   disclose  all   its  burning 
emotions,  no  longer  labouring  and  panting  for  utterance. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  ^4S 

And  a  new  organization  of  body  for  joining  and  mixing  af- 
fections may  be  invented,  more  quiet  homes  for  partaking 
it  undisturbed,  and  more  sequestered  retreats  for  barring 
out  the  invasion  of  other  affairs.  Oh!  what  scenes  of  social 
life  I  fancy  to  myself  in  the  settlements  of  the  blessed,  one 
day  of  which  I  would  n  >t  barter  against  the  greatness  and 
glory  of  an  Alexander  or  a  Caesar.  What  new  friendships 
— what  new  connubial  ties — what  urgency  of  well-doing— 
what  promotion  of  good — v.' hat  elevation  of  the  whole 
sphere  in  which  we  dwell!  till  every  thing  smile  in  "  Eden's 
first  bloom,'*  and  the  angels  of  light,  as  they  come  and  go, 
tarry  with  innocent  rapture  over  the  enjoyment  of  every 
happy  fair.  Ah!  they  will  come,  but  with  no  weak  sinful- 
ness like  those  three  lately  sung  of  by  no  holy  tongue;  they 
will  come  to  creatures  sinless  as  themselves,  and  help  for- 
ward the  mirth  and  rejoicing  of  all  the  people.  And  the 
Lord  CtocI  himself  shall  walk  amongst  us,  as  he  did  of  old 
in  the  midst  of  the  garden.  His  spirit  shall  be  in  us,  and  all 
heaven  shall  be  revealed  upon  us. 

God  only  knows  fvhat  great  powers  he  hath  of  creating 
happiness  and  joy.  For,  this  world  your  sceptic  poets  make 
such  idolatry  of,  'tis  a  waste-howling  wilderness  compared 
with  what  the  Lord  our  God  shall  furnish  out.  That  city 
of  our  God  and  the  Lamb,  whose  stream  was  crystal,  whose 
wall  was  jasper,  and  her  buildings  molten  gold,  whose 
twelve  gates  were  each  a  silvery  pearl — doth  not  so  far  out- 
shine those  dingy,  smoky,  clayey  dwellings  of  men,  as  shall 
that  new  earth  outshine  the  fairest  region  which  the  sun  hath 
ever  beheld  in  his  circuit  since  the  birth  of  time. 

But  there  is  a  depraved  taste  in  man,  which  delights  in 
strife  and  struggle;  a  fellness  of  spirit,  which  joys  in  fire 
and  sword;  and  a  serpent  mockery,  which  cannot  look  upon 
innocent  peace  without  a  smile  of  scorn,  or  a  ravenous  lust 
to  marr  it.  And  out  of  this  fund  of  bitterness  come  forth 
those  epithets  of  derision  which  they  pour  upon  the  inno- 
cent images  of  heaven.  They  laugh  at  the  celebration  of  the 
Almighty's  praise  as  a  heartless  service — not  understanding 
that  which  thev  make  themselves  merry  withal.  The  harp 
which  the  righteous  tune  in  heaven,  is  their  heart  full  of 
glad  and  harmonious  emotions.  The  song  which  they  sing, 
is  the  knowledge  of  things  which  the  soul  coveteth  after 
now,  but  faintly  perceiveth.  The  troubled  fountain  of  hu- 
man understanding  hath  become  clear  as  crystal,  they  know 
even  as  they  are  known.  Wherever  they  look  abroad,  they 
perceive  wisdom  and  glory — within,  they  feel  order  and 


^44  OF  JUDGMENT  tO    COME. 

happiness — in  every  countenance  they  read  benignity  and 
love.  God  is  glorified  in  all  his  outward  works,  and  inthron- 
ed  in  the  inward  parts  of"  every  living  thing;  and  man,  being 
ravished  with  the  constant  picture  of  beauty  and  content- 
ment, possessed  with  a  constant  sense  of  felicity, yutters  forth 
his  Maker's  praise,  or  if  he  utters  nut,  museth  it  with  ex- 
pressive silence. 

These  light  and  ignorant  wks  laugh  likewise  at  the  pas- 
toral innocency  of  heaven,  at  its  peaceiulness  and  quiet,  and 
would  transport  amongst  its  bowers  the  bad  activity  and  mo- 
lestation of  evil  pursuits  which  make    so   large  a   share  of 
their  enjoyments  here  below.     They  want  ambition  to  stir 
up  the  sluggish  soul,  and   pride  to  reward  it.     They   want 
emulation,  and  envy,  and   contention,  to  set  the   spirit  on 
edge,  and  triumphs  and  conquests  to  compose  it  again,  with 
all  the  play  of  earthly  bustle  and  activity.  Vain  sons  of  Be- 
lial! they  understand  not  the  nature  even  of  present  happi- 
ness, their  wicked  hearts   misleading  them  from  the  truth. 
These  turbulent  affections  constitute  not  the   enjoyment  of 
the  present  life,  but  its  misery.  Ambition  is  a  curse  to  hina 
who  indulges  it,  racking  his  bosom  and  wrecking  his  peace, 
causing  him  to  trample  upon  the   necks  of  many,  to  forget 
sacred  promises,  to  deceive,  to  flatter,  to  fawn,  the  success- 
ful leading   to  self-willedness  and  cruelty,  the  unsuccessful 
sinking  into  the  lowest  sink  of  shame.      Contention,  strife, 
and  war,  are  incarnate  demons,  setting  chiefest  friends  asun- 
der, entering  innocent  homes,  marring  rural  festivity,  and 
drawing  over  the  beauty  of  the  earth  the  waste  and  havoc 
and  sulphurous  canopy  of  h^ll.     There  is  a  yearning  in  the 
bosom  of  man  after  quietness  and  peace;  safety  and  securi- 
ty are  the  two  guardians  of  his  welfare;  gratitude  and  af- 
fection the  two  nurses  of  his  happiness.     Truth  and  inno- 
cency are  the  light  of  his  soul;  falsehood  and  deception  its 
dubious  twilight.   It  is  a  base  satire  on  human  nature  to  say, 
that  without  strife,  contention,  and  dividing  pride,  she  can- 
not be   happy  or  great;    and    that  bustle  and  restlessness 
are  the  elements  in  which  she  thrive*.   When  are  kingdoms 
happy  and  prosperous!  when  they  have  peaceful  times,  and 
worthy  governors.   Who  are  the  great  discoverers  and  sages 
of  their  speciesi"  those  who  have  consorted  with  meditation 
alone,  and  lived  remote  from  contentious  scenes.    What  do 
your  men  of  business  labour  for?  To  rest  in  old  age  and  be 
at  peace.      What  girds  you  with  resolution  to  go  through 
your  d:iily  toils?    The  peaceful  happy  home  and  family  to 
whose  bosom  you  retire  at  eventide.     What  is  this,  then, 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  245 

wicked  men  assert,  as  if  there  could  be  no  activity,  no  man- 
hood, no  enterprise,  no  heroism,  without  cruelty  and  guilt; 
no  delights  of  knowledge,  of  poetry,  of  philosophy,  of  affec- 
tion, without  emulation  and  vanity;  these  are  the  poisons 
in  the  cup,  not  the  medicines.  Human  society  would  die 
forthwith,  were  there  not  the  healthy  infusion  of  disinter- 
estedness, justice,  mercy,  and  love.  There  would  be  no  re- 
lief for  the  unfortunate,  nor  consolation  for  the  wretched, 
were  there  not  other  funds  than  self-aggrandisement  and  jea- 
lousy to  draw  upon:  and  I  am  well  assured  there  would  he 
none  of  that  unresisting  industry  in  thr  our  city,  were  we 
not  the  lords  of  our  peaceful  homes;  and  there  would  be  no 
such  enterprise  in  the  bosom  of  our  youth,  were  there  no 
happy  undisturbed  retirements  to  which,  after  a  season,  they 
might  come  home  and  be  at  rest. 

Therefore  I  do  appeal  to  the  common  sense  and  natural 
understanding  of  unsophisticated  men,  which  these  deriding 
wits  have  made  shipwreck,  if  our  heaven  do  not  commend 
itself  by  the  emblems  with  which  it  hath  been  shadowed 
forth — if  its  repose  is  not  sweet  to  look  forward  to,  from 
this  sorely  agitated  scene — if  the  perfect  honesty  and  confi- 
dence of  all  its  people  will  not  be  a  constant  feast  to  us, 
cheated  and  disappointed  upon  every  side — if  the  voice  of 
the  heart  does  not  answer  to  its  pictures  of  rural  beauty  and 
felicity — if  the  mind  does  not  rejoice  in  the  perfection  of 
knowledge  and  fulness  of  understanding  which  shall  be  dis- 
closed to  its  desires — if  the  whole  soul  doth  not  long  for  the 
paradise  of  joy  and  the  eternity  of  life  wherein  she  will 
there  be  planted. 

But  that  with  all  these  accompaniments  it  will  be  a  scene 
of  activity,  I  have  no  doubt.  Activity  both  of  body  and  of 
mind;  that  sensual  and  physical  enjoyments  will  be  multi- 
plied manifold;  that  affectionate  attachments  will  yield  a 
thousand  times  more  enjoyment;  that  schemes  of  future 
good  will  occupy  our  thoughts,  and  enterprises  of  higher 
attainments  urge  our  being  forward!  Then  will  be  the  plea- 
sure of  the  eye,  but  none  of  the  weariness;  the  glow  and 
glory  of  life,  but  not  its  pride;  the  thrilling  joys  of  flesh  and 
blood,  but  none  of  their  odious  lusts.  In  the  emblems  of 
Scripture  there  is  a  city  which  signifies  active  life — there 
is  a  river  which  signifies  refreshment — a  tree  of  life,  which 
•ignifies  nourishment;  variety  of  spontaneous  fruit,  which 
signifies  gratification  of  the  sense.  The  gates  are  not  shut 
all  the  day,  which  signifies  liberty.  There  is  no  night,  which 
signifies  no  weariness  nor  treachery.     There   are  the  most 


246  OF  JUDGMENT    TO    COME. 

beautiful  gems,  which  signify  wealth  and  splendour.  In 
short,  the  Almighty  hath  planted  and  decorated  the  habita- 
tion of  the  just  with  every  object  that  could  captivate  the 
sense,  and  every  enjoyment  that  can*  satisfy  the  mind,  with 
all  that  is  beautiful  and  noble  and  good. 

Thus  coolly  do  I  prosecute  a  subject  which  would  sus- 
tain the  loftiest  flights,  and  call  into  action  the  strongest  en- 
thusiasm of  the  mind,  because  I  would  justify  these  great 
truths  of  our  religion  by  an  appeal  to  the  cool  reason  and 
correct  feelings  of  human  nature,  not  by  high-wrought  elo- 
quence, or  picturesque  delineatiou.  And  I  would  now  me- 
ditate with  the  same  calmness  and  coUectedness  the  dark 
side  of  futurity,  praying  you  to  suppress  your  fears,  and 
listen  with  your  reason  and  judgment  alone,  which  are  the 
only  faculties  of  your  minds,  from  which  these  several  dis- 
courses of  Judgment  have  asked  a  verdict. 

•  Thougti  the  worm  that  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  that  is  not 
quenched,  are  on  the  same  occasion  thrice  solemnly  de- 
nounced upon  the  wicked  by  the  most  humane  and  gentle 
spirit  of  .Christ;  and  every  description  of  Judgment  by  Dan- 
iel and  John  and  Paul  be  in  the  same  strain;  still  keeping 
them  for  a  moment  in  our  breast,  we  shall  inquire  into  the 
condition  in  which  a  congregation  of  evil  natures  must  ne- 
cessarily find  themselves,  when  all  hope  and  possibility  of 
amendment  are  removed.  It  is  most  manifest  to  any  one 
coolly  considering  his  own  bosom,  that  if  he  were  to  give  a 
license  to  the  evil  that  is  within  him,  to  the  suggestions  of 
malice  and  lust  and  passion,  he  would  become  hateful  to 
himself  and  horrible  to  all  around.  If  the  fear  of  God  were 
cast  away,  and  the  fear  of  man;  if  the  rewards  that  attend 
honesty  and  chastity  and  peace  were  no  longer  known;  if 
one,  in  short,  had  nothing  to  lose  in  life,  no  death,  and  no 
retribution  after  death  staring  him  in  the  face,  the  lengths 
to  which  he  would  proceed  are  shocking  to  reflect  upon. 

Now  this  is  precisely  the  state  of  things  in  the  nether 
world.  There  is  no  hope,  there  is  no  end,  there  are  no  good 
beings  to  hold  the  balance  against  evil,  and  there  is  no  re- 
straining providence  of  God.  Were  there  nothing  more,  I 
hold  this  to  be  enough  to  constitute  the  hottest,  crudest 
hell,  I  ask  no  elemental  fire^  no  furnace  of  living  flames, 
no  tormenting  demons,  nothing  but  a  congregation  of  the 
wicked,  in  the  wicked  state  in  which  they  died  and  appear- 
ed at  the  tribunal,  driven  together  into  one  settlement,  to 
make  the  best  or  the  worst  of  it  they  can.  Let  every  man 
arise  in   his  proper  likeness,  clothed  in  his  proper  nature, 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  24^1 

which  he  did  not  choose  to  put  off,  but  to  die  with;  let  beau- 
ty arise  with  the  same  pure  tints  which  death  did  nip,  and 
wit  with  all  its  flashes  and  knowledge,  with  all  its  powers 
and  policy,  with  all  its  address;  let  the  generations  of  the 
unrighteous  gather-  together; — and  because  of  their  posses- 
sing none  of  the  qualities  which  God  approves  in  his  vo- 
lume, nor  caring  to  possess  them,  let  them  be  shipped  across 
the  impassable  gulf  to  some  planet  of  their  own,  to  carry  on 
their  several  intrigues  and  indulgencies  forever;- — then  here 
were  a  hell,  which  neither  fire  nor  brimstone,  nor  gnawing 
worm,  are  able  to  represent.  For,  observe,  it  is  such  only 
in  whom  godliness  could  take  no  root  that  were  transport- 
ed thither,  in  whom  selfishness  carried  it  over  benevolence, 
lust  over  self-control,  interest  over  duty,  the  devil  over  God; 
and  that  in  a  world  where  hope  and  encouragement  were  all 
thrown  into  the  good  scale.  Now,  if  the  evil  principle  pre- 
dominated here,  where  it  was  discountenanced  by  the  in- 
stitutions of  God,  and  many  institutions  of  men,  and  most 
of  all  by  the  shipwreck  of  present  and  eternal  good  which 
it  brought  on — much  more  there,  where  no  checks  exist, 
nor  tendency  in  things  to  right  themselves.  It  must  be  that 
seeing  the  good  would  not  flourish  here,  where  the  whole 
atmosphere  and  influences  of  heaven  woed  it,  die  it  must 
there,  where  not  one  genial  ray  can  reach  it.  Angels  and 
ministers  of  grace  come  not  there;  salvation  of  Christ  comes 
not;  hope  comes  not;  and  the  determination  of  death  comes 
not:  there  are  no  just  men  to  parry  off  mischief,  or  to  over- 
awe it.  Every  one  is  condemned  for  the  predominancy  of 
evil  in  one  shape  or  other.  How  can  it  otherwise  be,  then, 
but  that  the  good  principle  will  die  and  be  forgotten,  the 
evil  principle  rise  in  strength,  and  riot  in  the  activity  of  the 
unhappy  people. 

Here  then,  I  say,  is  hell  enough  out  of  the  natural  work- 
ings of  such  a  population,  without  one  interference  of  Al- 
mighty God.  With  what  full  swing  power  will  rage  and  ha- 
voc! with  what  fell  swoop  Uie  arm  of  revenge  will  bring  its 
bloody  stroke!  Hosts  encountering  hosts  in  dubious  battle, 
wounds  and  bloodshed  and  agony,  and  no  relief  of  death! 
Knowledge  will  invent  systems  of  slavery  and  arts  of  cruel- 
ty; and  inventions  for  accomplishing  the  ends  of  wicked- 
ness, beyond  aught  recorded  of  in  history,  will  come  forth 
from  thoughtful  and  malicious  brains.  All  the  cruel  acts  of 
man  will  be  played  off  remorseless;  inquisitionary  dungeons 
will  arise  anew,  and  racks  and  torments  for  the  body  of 
men  will  ply  their  ancient  work.     The  ferocity  of  Canibs 


248  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

and  the  dark  cruelty  of  Malays,  and  the  torturing  of  Ame- 
rican savages,  and  Sodom's  lustfulness,  and  Carthaginian 
fraud,  and  Rome's  tyrant  grasp,  will  all  revive.  And  beauty 
will  be  there  to  light  the  cruel  fires  of  jealousy,  and  arm 
nation  against  nation  as  heretofore.  And  poetry  will  be 
there  to  compose  the  war-song.  And  ambition  to  league  re- 
volts; and  civil  warfare,  with  every  form  of  mischief  this 
earth  hath  groaned  beneath,  all  embittered  and  exasperated 
manifold. 

Now,  tell  me,  brethren,  could  you  endure  such  anarchy 
and  confusion  for  a  life  long — could  you  endure  it  for  ever? 
this  carnival  of  every  lust,  and  revelry  of  every  passion. 
Yet  what  is  there,  who  is  there,  to  put  to  it  a  check?  Fhere  is 
no  principle  of  correction.  Do  you  say  regard  for  their  own 
happiness — What  happiness?  I  ask;  they  have  murdered 
happiness,  and  it  comes  not.  If  you  return  from  the  hot  and 
hellish  mixture  to  meditate  apart,  what  have  you  to  think 
of  but  of  happiness  for  ever  lost,  of  peace  departed,  of  hea- 
ven forfeited,  of  misery  present,  of  boundless  eternity  and 
hopeless  fate,  and  a  thousand  remorseful,  wasteful  thoughts. 
There  is  no  peace — no  peace;  and  there  is  no  refuge  from 
oblivion.  What  then,  but.  Up  and  to  it  again  in  the  fearful 
affray?   It  is  most  miserable,  most  pitiful  to  think  upon. 

Hitherto  I  have  supposed  things  no  otherwise  condition- 
ed than  they  are  here  on  earth.  But  what,  if  the  ground 
should  be  doubly  accursed  for  their  sakes?  What,  if  the  bo- 
dy should  be  liable  to  tenfold  racking  pains;  what,  if  the  eye 
should  look  only  upon  unsightly  things,  and  the  ear  should 
lose  its  faculty  of  tasting  melody — or,  perceiving  it,  should 
be  invaded  with  restless,  dunning  noises;  what,  if  the  sun 
should  smite  with  tropic  fires,  and  suffocating  winds  whirl 
the  miserable  natives  to  and  fro:  what,  if  the  realities  of  all 
that  is  threatened  should  come  to  pass,  and  the  mighty  de- 
vils become  our  masters,  and  we  their  thralls,  to  be  used 
and  misused  as  their  beasts  of  labour;  what,  if  God  should 
put  forth  his  power,  and  give  the  wicked  who  set  him  at 
naught,  their  habitation  upon  some  burning  star  or  fiery  co- 
met, to  live  like  the  salamander  in  everlasting  fire? — What, 
if  all  that  Dante  and  Milton  and  Tasso  have  imagined  in 
their  several  hells — the  physical  torments  of  the  one,  the 
mental  anguish  of  the  other,  the  deformed,  filthy,  obscene 
forms  of  the  third — should  concur;  and  the  imagined  pic- 
ture of  Belial  be  realized!   That  the  wicked 

Caug^hl  in  a  fierj'  tempest  shall  be  hurled 
Each  on  his  rock  transfixed,  the  sport  and  prey 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  249 

Of  racking  whirlwinds;  or  for  ever  sunk 
Under  yon  boiling  ocean,  wrapt  in  chains, 
There  to  converse  with  everlasting  groans, 
Unrespited,  unpitied,  unreprieved, 
Ages  of  hopeless  end. 

But  of  these  things  I  make  no  handle;  wishing  to  address 
myself  lo  imagination  no  further  than  is  necessary  to  embo- 
dy the  thing  for  the  consideration  of  reason. 

Now  when  reason  taketh  this  picture  under  her  delibera- 
tion, I  know  not  what  confusion  she  feels,  but  surely  she  is 
distressed.  She  thinks  it  pitiful  that  a  brief,  transient  space 
of  time,  like  life,  should  decide  and  determine  these  terri- 
ble conclusions  of  eternity.  She  could  wish  a  taste  of  it,  and 
then  a  chance  of  escaping  from  it.  And  oh!  it  would  pL  ase 
her  well  could  she  indulge  the  fond  hope  of  seeing  all  yet 
recovered  and  restored  to  happy  seats.  Hell  cheated,  the 
devil  himself  converted,  and  the  universal  world  bound  in 
chains  of  love  and  blessedness.  It  seemeth  more  than  terri- 
ble to  think  of  wretches  swimming  and  sweltering  for  ever 
in  the  deep  abyss,  preyed  upon  by  outward  mischiefs  and 
distracted  by  inward  griefs,  tortured,  tormented,  maddened 
for  evermore.  There  is  a  seeming  cruelty  in  this  quietus  of 
torment,  in  this  ocean  of  sorrow  and  suflfering,  which  shocks 
the  faculties  of  reason  and  distresses  the  powers  of  belief. 

The  edge  of  this  painful  conception  we  consider  to  be  not 
a  little  removed  by  that  activity  which  we  have  given  to  the 
commonwealth  of  miserable  creatures.  They  are  tormented, 
as  wicked  men  are  at  present  tormented,  with  certain  ag- 
gravation of  their  case,  brought  on  chiefly  by  the  separation 
of  the  worthy.  The  same  elements  which  work  their  woful- 
ness  here,  work  their  wofulness  there,  but  with  more  suc- 
cess, from  not  being  withstood  inwardly  by  the  better  law 
of  the  mind,  now  for  ever  silent;  outwardly  by  the  active 
agents  of  goodness,  now  for  ever  translated  from  the  sphere. 
Now,  as  we  think  not  of  blaming  God  for  the  misery  and 
wretchedness  in  which  the  savage  tribes  exist  in  the  Indian 
seas,  nor  for  the  degradations  under  which  the  Hindoos 
have  groaned  for  rolling  ages,  but  attribute  it  to  the  active 
agency  of  the  evil  parts  of  nature,  and  the  passive  suppres- 
sion of  the  good  parts  of  nature;  and  least  of  all  do  tht  de- 
graded people  themselves  think  of  blaming  him;  no  more 
do  1  think  that  they  in  heaven  will  blame,  or  they  in  hell  la- 
ment, for  the  sufferings  that  are  endured.  They  will  go  on 
actively  occupied  with  their  fell  pursuits;  they  will  sweat 
on  in  their  foul  debaucheries,  and  wallow  on  in  their  sinks 


250  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

of  wickedness,  and  they  may  have  a  glory  in  it.  I  say  not  but 
the  people  may  make  them  merry  with  their  ignominious 
case,  and  constitute  honourable  offices  of  crime,  and  insti- 
tute royal  rewards  of  wickedness;  and,  by  their  ambitions, 
heat  the  natural  furnace  of  hell  seven  times  hotter  than  God 
did  make  it.  And  while  they  hasten  their  red  revelry,  and 
gallop  through  the  whole  circuit  of  crime,  and  drink  the 
bitterness  of  every  passion —  I  see  not  but  the  people  may 
think  it  glorious,  and  conceive  that  all  are  paltry  to  them, 
and  that  they  are  the  great  and  mighty  ones  of  creation. 
For  what  verily  is  all  this  self-adulation  and  dreaming  of 
vanity,  but  another  torturing  demon  which  exalts  itself  over 
the  glorious  parts  of  human  nature,  and  turns  them  into  de- 
gradation,  extracting  even  from  good  qualities  the  most  sor- 
rowful sensations.  Had  Satan  not  been  vain-glorious,  he 
might  still  have  stood;  his  vain- glory  brought  him  to  hell, 
and  of  hell  was  the  most  stinging  torment,  as  our  Poet  hath 
well  portrayed  in  the  several  speeches  which  he  hath  put 
into  his  mouth. 

So  that  I  think  we  very  much  take  the  thing  for  granted, 
when  we  fancy  the  wicked  creatures  pinched  and  scorched 
alive  by  active  ministers  of  God.  Their  torture  is  the  ab- 
sence of  the  ministry  of  God.  God  comes  not  to  their  quar- 
ters, and  therefore  their  quarters  are  so  hot;  for,  where  God 
is  there  is  peace  and  love, — and  where  he  is  not,  there  is 
confusion  and  every  evil  work.  Alas!  there  come  no  warn- 
ing prophet  nor  ministering  priest;  no  reformer  nor  Saviour, 
to  their  world.  It  floats  far  remote  from  the  habitations  of 
holiness,  and  no  emanations  of  the  divine  Spirit  shall  visit 
it  any  more.  They  range  the  wastes  and  wildernesses  of 
sin,  and  build  the  fabrics  of  iniquity,  and  work  the  works 
of  darkness,  and  travel  in  the  ways  of  cruelty  and  wicked- 
ness. The  murderous  devil  is  their  master,  his  emanations 
inspire  them,  his  powers  of  darkness  rule  them.  They  aye 
toil  like  Vulcan  and  his  slaves,  manufacturing  thunderbolts 
for  this  their  cruel  Jove,  to  overwhelm  themselves  withal: 
and,  as  Etna,  the  fabled  residence  of  these  workers  in  fire, 
conceives  in  her  bowels  that  flame  and  smoke  which  she  af- 
terwards vomits  to  scorch  the  vegetation  up,  which  else 
would  beautify  her  woody  and  verdant  sides — so  these 
wretched  men  will  aye  conceive  within  their  soul  malicious, 
fiendish  imaginations  and  purposes,  which  being  brought 
forth  will  destroy  all  the  good  which  else  might  flourish  in 
their  clime.  Who  knows  but  there  may  be  evidences,  even 
there,  of  a  good  God — incitements  to  meditation  upon  all 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  251 

the  better  alternatives  of  being, — which,by  reason  of  abound- 
ing wickedness,  are  frustrated,  and  the  people  tantalized  with 
the  sight  and  thought  of  good,  which  their  own  crazed  and 
disjointed  frames  did  aye  hinder  them  from  realizing. 

These  may  be  imaginations  only,  and  certainly  they  are 
unequal  to  the  subject.  But  when  I  see  the  wretchedness 
created  within  the  breast  of  man  by  the  simple  excess  or 
overstrained  action  of  any  power,  however  good;  how  be- 
nevolence being  in  excess  will  drive  man  into  Quixotic 
madness,  and  make  him  a  world's  sport;  how  malice  will 
drive  him  into  misanthropic  madness,  and  much  learning 
will  make  him  mad;  how  sensibility  will  make  him  a  me- 
lancholic, helpless  creature;  anddisappointed  love  make  him 
wander  under  the  pale  moon,  till  he  catches  her  lunatic  in- 
fluences; how  the  '  amor  sceleratus  habendi,'  or  '  hell  fire 
greed,'  fif  I  may  be  permitted  a  Scottish  versionj  will 
waste  a  man  like  a  shadow,  and  eat  the  flesh  ofl*  his  bones 
though  he  have  a  royal  dowry  in  his  coffer — Oh!  when  I 
think  how  near  every  man  verges  upon  the  confines  of  mad- 
ness and  misery,  and  how  the  least  shift  in  the  fabric  of  our 
minds  would  send  heavenly  reason  into  howling  madness — 
I  see,  I  fancy  a  thousand  powers  resident  in  God,  by  the 
smallest  expense  of  means,  to  make  a  hell  such  as  no  earth- 
ly science  or  earthly  language  is  able  to  represent.  Bring 
me  all  the  classes  of  men  upon  the  earth,  and  let  me  have 
the  sorting  and  the  placing  of  them  upon  this  earth,  and  I 
shall  make  hells  for  each  one  of  them  without  further  ado. 
I  would  send  the  poets  to  bear  burdens,  and  the  porters  to 
indite  tuneful  songs.  The  musicians  I  would  appoint  over 
the  kennels,  and  the  roving  libertines  I  would  station  over 
the  watch  and  ward  of  streets,  I  would  banish  the  senti- 
mentalists to  the  fens,  and  send  the  rustic  labourers  to  seek 
their  food  among  the  mountains;  each  wily  politician  I 
would  transplant  into  a  colony  of  honest  men,  and  your  stu- 
pid clown  I  would  set  at  the  helm  of  state.  But,  lest  it 
may  be  thought  I  sport  with  a  subject  which  I  strive  to  make 
plain,  I  shall  stop  short  and  give  no  further  proof  of  this 
wicked  ingenuity;  for,  sure  I  am  I  could  set'society  into  such 
a  hot  warfare  and  confusion,  as  should  in  one  day  make  half 
the  world  slay  themselves,  or  slay  each  other,  and  the  other 
half  run  up  and  down  in  wild  distraction. 

But  should  these  explanations  not  satisfy  the  hesitating 
mind,  I  have  no  other  resource  than  to  refer  him  to  the 
very  words  of  Scripture,  for  information  upon  both  the  na- 
ture and  the  duration  of  these  hellish  sufferings.    In  all  the 


252  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

passages  where  Christ  speaks  of  the  two  states  of  retribu* 
tion,  it  is  always  with  the  strongest  possible  assurance  of 
their  eternity,  flis  words  are,  •"  everlasting  punishment,  ev- 
erlasting fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels;'  '  into 
hell,  into  the  fire  that  never  shall  be  quenched,  where  their 
worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire  is  not  quenched.'  This  last 
expression,  the  most  direful  of  all,  he  repeats  three  times  in 
the  compass  of  one  short  discourse.  The  opposite  condition 
of  the  righteous  is  described  in  terms  equally  expressive  of 
eternal  endurance,  i  do  not  remember,  and  have  not  been 
able  to  discover  any  one  passage  of  ^  scripture  where  it  is 
written  that  the  conditions  of  good  and  ill  which  follow  judg- 
ment will  have  an  end.  On  the  contrary,  wherever  in  the 
writings  of  the  apostles  they  are  alluded  to,  they  are  spoken 
of  as  irreversible  and  irremediable-  Nevertheless  there  arc 
passages  having  an  indirect  reference  to  this  subject,  which 
have  been  thought  to  speak  a  different  language,  and,  seiz- 
ing hold  of  them,  some  Christians,  with  Origen  at  their 
head,  have  given  to  these  words  Eternity  and  Everlasting, 
a  limited  sense.  The  passages  I  refer  to  are  in  Paul's  writ- 
ings, where  he  speaks  of  the  universality  "  of  the  free  gift 
through  Jesus  Christ,  unto  justification  of  life;"  and  "  As 
in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  This 
latter  passage  receives  its  explanation  from  that  which  im- 
mediately follows: '  Every  man  in  his  own  order,  Christ  the 
first  fruits,  afterward  they  that  are  Christ's  at  his  coming.' 
No  place  in  the  "  all  who  shall  be  made  alive  in  Christ"  be- 
ing found  for  those  who  are  not  his.  And  in  very  truth  all 
are  made  alive  in  Christ.  For  without  his  subjugation  of 
death  and  the  grave,  we  are  given  to  understand  that  all 
men  would  have  continued  subject  to  their  dominion.  So 
that  he  is  the  Prince  of  life  to  all,  though  to  some  a  life  of 
happiness,  to  others  a  life  of  sorrow.  The  former  passage 
cannot  be  mistaken  by  any  person  who  will  read  the  fifth 
chapter  of  the  Romans  in  which  it  is  found,  where  those 
who  shall  reign  in  life  by  Jesus  Christ  are  only  such  as  re- 
ceive abundance  of  grace,  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness. 
The  true  interpretation  of  these  and  other  passages  where 
Christ  is  said  to  have  died  for  all,  is  this.  That  he  hath  of- 
fered the  gift  of  eternal  life  as  a  free  donation  to  the  world, 
without  any  preference  or  hinderance  of  any  one.  But  there 
would  be  no  use  or  value  in  the  donation,  if  it  were  not  to 
deliver  us  from  som»  state  to  which  we  lay  exposed.  If 
eternal  life  wnild  have  come  of  course  to  all,  then  it  would 
have  been  vain  glorious  in  Christ  to  have  taken  the  merit 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  25$ 

qF  bringing  it  within  our  reach.  But  in  bringing  it  within 
the  reach  of  all,  he  may  be  said  as  truly  to  have  died  for 
all,  and  given  life  to  all;  as  a  king  who  gives  a  constitution 
to  all  his  subjects,  may  be  said  to  give  liberty  to  them  all; 
though  it  be  well  known  that  free  constitution  contains  with- 
in its  bosom,  bonds  and  imprisonment  and  death  to  those 
who  do  crimes  deserving  of  such  condemnation.  So  the 
constitution  of  Christ  is  a  constitution  of  everlasting  life  and 
glory  to  all  who  know  it,  although  it  contain  within  its 
breast,  death  and  damnation  to  those  who  commit  crimes 
deserving  of  such  a  fate. 

It  will  not  bear  a  question,  that  so  far  as  revelation  is  to 
be  believed,  it  bears  that  the  conditions  of  the  righteous  and 
wicked  are  irreversible.  The  whole  structure  of  revelation 
bears  it  engraven  upon  every  part  of  it.  If  there  had  been 
a  time  at  which  hell  was  to  have  been  unpeopled,  that  were 
so  important  an  aera  as  to  have  merited  the  amplest  details; 
and  yet  a  hint  of  it  is  not  given.  If  the  punishment  of  hell 
were  meant  for  the  reformation  of  the  reprobate  people, 
then  certainly  they  would  not  have  been  committed  to  the 
devil  and  his  angels,  who  are  but  indifferent  reformers;  and 
some  insight  would  have  been  given  us  into  the  means  and 
nature  of  the  reformation,  instead  of  assurances  that  the 
smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever.  I 
understand  how  this  world  is  a  state  of  probation,  because 
we  constantly  stand  exposed  to  good  and  evil,  with  notices 
from  God  of  both,  with  power  from  him  to  perform  the  one 
and  inclinations  of  nature  to  perform  the  other.  But  it 
were  not  a  state  of  probation  if  there  were  a  second  state  of 
probation  to  follow  after.  For  probation  doth  not  lead  to 
probation,  but  to  issues.  It  is  very  extraordinary  that  hea- 
ven is  presented  always  upon  the  condition  of  our  abidiifg 
steadfast  and  immoveable,  if,  whether  we  abide  so  or  not, 
this  heaven  will  come  to  each  one  of  us.  There  must  be 
another  gospel  preached  in  that  state  of  purgatory,  other 
opportunities  of  good  afforded  by  these  angels  of  the  devil 
to  whose  company  they  are  consigned,  before  the  purifica- 
tion can  take  place  upon  which  they  feign  that  they  shall 
pass  into  heaven.  But  it  is  not  needful  to  enumerate  the 
principles  of  the  gospel  to  which  this  tenet  doth  offence,  see- 
ing we  should  have  to  enumerate  them  every  one.  It  will 
be  better  to  discover  the  error  in  which  the  notion  origi- 
nates, and  endeavour  to  correct  it,  which  we  will  do  after 
one  single  remark  upon  the  principle  of  interpreting  scrip- 

33 


254  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

ture  by  which  the  advocates  of  this  doctrine  beguile  so  many 
followers. 

They  endeavour  to  find  out  parts  of  scripture  in  which 
the  word  Eternal  or  Everlasting,  is  used  of  a  limited  dura- 
tion, of  which  there  are  many  instances.  But  it  still  remains 
for  them  to  prove  that  it  is  so  used  in  the  place  in  ques- 
tion; for,  the  proper  meaning  of  the  word  is  to  express  the 
very  opposite  of  limited  time.     In  the  former  places  it  is 
used  out  of  its  ordinary  meaning,  because  there  are  words 
in  connexion  with  it,  or  circumstances  of  the  thing  it  relates 
to,  which  hinder  all  possibility   of  mistake.     Now  on  the 
contrary  in  the  passages  in  question,  there  is  nothing  to  li- 
mit, but  every  thing  to  enlarge  the  sense,  such  as  reitera- 
tion '  for  ever  and  for  ever'  in  '  the  fire  that  never  shall  be 
quenched,  where  the   worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not 
quenched;'  while  in   the  circumstances   connected  with  it, 
there  is  every  thing  to  strengthen  the  same  impression,  'the 
fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels;'  manifestly  im- 
plying that  the  wicked  go  into  the  same  conditions  of  being 
with  the  reprobate  angels,  of  whose  restitution  to  their  for- 
mer estate   we    have   never  heard.     Then  the  fate  of  the 
wicked  is  expressed  in  the  same  breath  and   the  same  lan- 
guage as  that  of  the  righteous,  which  no  one  dreams  of  be- 
ing for  a  limited  time.     But  there  is  something  still  more 
vicious  and  unsound  in  this,  that  they  should  hang  so  very 
important  a  feature  of  divine  government  upon  so  slender  a 
support.  There  is  a  proportion  always  observed,  not  only 
in  the.  revelations  of  God,  but  in  all  the  systems  of  human 
wisdom,   between  the  importance  of  every  truth,  and  the 
importance  with  which  it  is  enunciated  or  pronounced.  To 
hang  a  vast  and  weighty  conclusion  upon  a  single  word,  or 
infer  it  from  an  indirect  allusion,  is  sucji  indiscreet  weak- 
ness as  never  to  be  admitted  in  the  interpretation  of  a  do- 
cument of  real  lite  or  practical  affairs.   Every  writing  must 
be    interpreted    according   to   its   own    strong  and  leading 
drift,  not  by  the  finesse  of  criticism,  or  b)  the  artifices  of 
ingenuity.  Now  if  the  Universalists  fas  those  are  called  who 
argue  for  limited  punishmentj  are  to  be  permitted  to  infer 
so  essential  a  conclusion  from  methods  of  interpretation  so 
inciirect  and  inconclusive  as  those  exposed  above;  then  we 
argue  in  vain  with  the  Catholics  against  purgatory,  image- 
worship,  transubstantiation,  the  supremacy  of  Peter's  see, 
the  supplication  and  intercession  of  saints,  and  their  other  he- 
retical opinions,  which  have  each  as  good,  I  think  a  better 
colour  of  truth,  from  certain  passages  of  Scripture,  and  can 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  255 

be  borne  up  by  reasonings  equally  good  with  those  against 
which  we  hold  our  present  argument. 

But  in  all  controversies,  the  most  Christian  way  is  to 
aim  at  enlightening  rather  than  confuting  your  opponent; 
and  therefore  we  now  go  on  to  discover  what  bias  of  mind 
hath  led  these  men  so  to  wrest  the  Scripture  from  its  proper 
sense,  as  to  imagine  the  fate  of  the  wicked  to  be  only  for  a 
time.  And  we  have  no  hesitation  to  give  it  to  the  very  best 
of  feelings,  a  desire  to  save  the  mercy  and  benevolence  of 
the  Almighty,  which  they  suppose  to  be  wounded  by  the 
opposite  doctrine.  This  they  combine  with  the  philosophi- 
cal tenet,  that  all  punishment  is  and  ought  to  be  for  the  re- 
formation of  the  criminal;  and  thinking  that  they  have  both 
good  feeling  and  sound  philosophy  to  rest  upon,  they  have 
the  less  remorse,  or  rather  think  they  do  God  service,  in 
endeavouring  to  force  his  word  into  compliance  with  such 
wise  benevolence. 

In  the  theology  of  their  argument  they  take  for  granted 
a  certain  notion  of  the  mercy  and  goodness  of  God,  with 
which  everlasting  punishment  is  inconsistent.  Now  the 
question  is,  whence  this  notion  is  derived  by  them,  that 
they  should  be  so  confident  of  its  truth,  as  for  its  sake  to 
efface  the  plain  meaning  of  Scripture.  The  mercy  and  good- 
ness of  God  need  not  be  lauded  here,  after  what  hath  been 
written  in  the  third  part  of  this  discourse.  But  though  ex- 
ceeding great,  and  greatly  to  be  adored,  and  sufficient  for 
the  salvation  of  all  the  earth,  these  attributes  do  consist 
with  others  of  a  firmer  texture  and  a  sterner  mood.  Here 
are  we,  the  sons  of  men,  suflPering  daily  pain,  misery,  and 
death,  although  we  were  not  instrumental  to  the  fall.  God 
looks  upon  our  case,  and  doth  not  hinder  it.  He  hath  sent 
a  remedy,  but  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  men  have  never 
heard  of  it.  Contemplate  the  condition  of  whole  continents 
of  the  earth  sweltering  in  sultry  toil,  or  raging  in  fierce 
contests  of  mutual  misery  and  destruction,  oppressed  by  the 
wilfulness  of  single  men,  at  whose  pleasure  they  are  bought 
and  sold,  imprisoned  and  put  to  death,  without  knowledge 
of  better  things  to  come,  or  cheerful  hope  of  any  redress  of 
wrong.  All  for  what?  for  the  sin  of  our  first  great  parents, 
over  whom  we  had  no  control;  let  them  contemplate  this 
and  see  what  stern  attributes  dwell  by  the  side  of  divine 
mercy  and  goodness.  I  confess,  when  I  contempiaic  the  ad- 
ministration of  this  woeful  world  since  the  fall,  so  far  as  it 
is  recorded  in  the  annals  of  nations,  I  feel  a  shrinking  ter- 
ror of  the  sternness  of  Him  in  whose  hands  the  govern- 


256  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

ment  rests.  The  world  hath  been  a  very  furnace  of  hot  and 
murderous  passiofis,  a  seething  vessel  of  blood,  which  hath 
never  rested,  but  smoked  to  heaven  in  vain.  Even  still, 
after  the  great  propitiation  and  atonement  for  the  world's 
sins,  it  never  resteth.  Every  day  men  are  immolated  upon 
a  bloody  altar,  and  their  unshrived  spirits  pass  in  most 
desperate  moods  into  eternity.  Wickedness  rageth,  princes 
combine  against  the  Lord  and  his  Anointed,  they  filch  the 
sacred  authority  of  God,  they  plant  their  scornful  foot  upon 
the  neck  of  noble  nations,  and  they  defy  the  tears  and 
groans  of  millions  to  melt  their  stony  hearts.  Oh,  my  GodI 
when  will  this  have  an  end?  when  wilt  thou  dash  them  in 
pieces  like  the  potsherd,  and  vie  them  in  thy  hot  displea- 
sure? This,  when  I  look  upon  and  remember  from  what 
small  beginnings  it  arose,  I,  for  one,  cannot  doubt  of  the 
Almighty's  force  of  character  to  carry  any  thing  into  effect. 
If  God  can  exist  with  such  a  blighted  region  and  tormented 
people  under  his  government,  why  may  he  not  also  exist  in 
the  knowledge  and  permission  of  hell?  Tragedies  as  deep 
as  hell  are  consummating  every  day  under  his  tender  eye, 
and  deeds  of  darkness,  foul  as  the  pit,  transacted  in  highest 
places  with  the  insignia  of  his  holy  authority.  1  hey  make 
his  name  a  sounding  horn  through  which  to  blow  blasphemy 
and  cruelty  over  the  world.  They  make  his  religion  a  veil 
of  midnight,  to  darken  the  eye  of  reason  and  deaden  the 
free-born  energies  of  man.  Why,  if  his  nature  be  so  soft, 
doth  he  allow  these  most  shocking  sights  for  one  instant? 
and,  allowing  them  now,  may  he  not  allow  them  here- 
after? 

Do  these  amiable  enthusiasts  now  imagine  that  the  Di- 
vine nature  is  grieved,  and  its  enjoyment  overshadowed, 
by  the  enormities  into  which  this  earth  has  broken  loose? 
No!  The  Divine  nature  is  a  strong  texture  of  being,  which 
is  not  troubled  by  any  such  provocations.  It  is  bound  in 
bands  of  eternity  and  unchangeableness.  It  giveth  law,  and 
rejoiceth  in  the  execution  of  law.  It  giveth  one  law  of 
blessedness  to  righteousness,  another  law  of  misery  to  sin; 
and  it  is  pleased  and  satisfied  with  both.  For,  each  is 
equally  needful  to  the  welfare  of  the  universe;  which 
standeth  happy,  because  with  obedience  cdmeth  all  enjoy- 
ment and  delight,  with  disobedience  all  misery  and  tribula- 
tion to  its  people.  They  step  across  the  dividing  line,  and 
a  thousand  perplexities  from  within,  a  thousand  troubles 
from  without,  invade  their  heretofore  untroubled  being. 
And  they  are  shipped  off  by  no  active  infliction  of  God, 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  257 

but  as  it  were  by  the  necessity  of  their  nature,  to  herd  and 
congregate  with  spirits  accursed.  This  may  seem,  to  soft 
and  tender  htfted  nature,  a  blemish  in  the  character  of 
God,  and  the  construction  of  his  creatures.  But  seem  how 
it  may  to  human  nature,  it  is  no  less  certain,  and  hath  been 
evinced  in  the  bevy  of  angels  who  wtre  detruded  from 
their  seats  in  heaven  to  the  bottomless  pit,  and  too  fatally 
evinced  in  all  Adam's  posterity  denounced  for  one  offence. 
I  wonder  that  rve  should  speculate,  who  are  labouring  un- 
der the  fatal  reality!  The  beings  of  another  sphere,  who  re- 
tain their  constancy  and  enjoyment,  may  speculate  about 
the  limitations  of  divine  infliction,  and  wonder  to  what 
length  God's  hatred  of  sin  may  carry  him  against  the  soft 
intercession  of  his  mercy  and  goodness,  and  when  these  two 
principles  of  his  nature  will  come  into  equilibrium  and  find 
a  resting  place.  But  for  us,  who  taste  and  know,  who  feel 
and  suffer,  it  is  vain  to  urge  such  speculations  against  as- 
surance, and  to  raise  up  tranquillizing  delusions  of  God's 
nature  against  positive  revelations  of  his  nature. 

Next  to  meet  their  philosophical  notion,  that  all  punish- 
ment is  for  the  reformation  of  the  offender;  however  good 
it  may  be  in  human  jurisprudence,  it  certainly  is  not  the 
principle  of  the  divine  procedure,  as  that  is  to  be  gathered 
from  what  we  know;  in  evidence  of  which,  I  instance  the 
condition  of  the  apostate  angels,  who  since  their  fall  have 
not  been  visited  by  hope  nor  relaxation  of  woe,  but  are  ever 
urged,  and  ever  to  be  urged,  if  Scripture  is  to  be  believed, 
with  excessive  woe.  They  were  as  good  spirits  as  any  other, 
as  well  ingratiated  in  their  Creator's  favour  and  advanced 
in  his  confidence,  and  had  as  good  and  rightful  a  hold  of 
his  tender  mercy.  But  there  they  lie  in  chains  of  darkness 
dreeing  the  everlasting  penance  of  sin,  which,  when  once  it 
enters,  deranges  the  fine  tissue  of  happy  natures  for  ever; — 
even  as  we  often  see  a  stroke  of  terrible  calamity  derange 
for  ever  the  organization  of  reason  and  intellect,  which  no 
solacements  of  friends  or  softening  influence  of  time  shall 
afterwards  restore.  Sin  is  rightly  conceived  of,  not  by  com- 
parison with  crimes  against  human  law,  that  may  be  wiped 
away  by  a  suitable  forfeit,  but  when  it  is  imagined  to  bring 
along  with  it  an  irremediable  fall;  God's  provinces  would 
not  otherwise  be  secure,  but  always  un^er  calms  and  storms, 
like  our  habitation.  Therefore,  to  insure  the  felicity  of  the 
whole,  the  part  is  sacrificed.  Where  sin  comes,  it  weeds  the 
creature  out  from  his  place,  and  transplants  him  into  sinful 


258  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COxME. 

regions,  where  he  can  have  his  humour  gratified  at  its  pro- 
per expense. 

Man  is  an  exception  certainly  to  this  rule  of  steadfast 
and  immoveable  conditions  proceeding  from  sin.  But,  that 
it  is  the  exception  which  confirms  the  rule  is  most  manifest, 
from  the  terrible  power  of  an  Almighty  Being,  which  was 
necessary  to  wrench  us  from  the  grasp  of  our  enemy  back 
again  into  hope;  from  the  steps  that  had  to  be  taken  in  the 
courts  above,  and  the  exhibition  that  had  to  be  made  in  the 
world  beneath,  before  recovery  was  even  possible.  And  see, 
with  all  the  sacrifice  and  suffering,  by  how  slow  degrees  re- 
co\^ery  comes  about,  how  few  have  partaken  of  it,  and  with 
how  much  chance  of  failure  it  is  surrounded;  what  a  strug- 
gle, what  a  trial  is  involved  in  the  salvation  of  any  single 
man.  Which  all  serves  to  show  how  hard  it  was  to  win  man 
back  from  under  the  curse  that  is  engraven  on  all  creation 
against  sin;  and  how,  with  all  the  intervention  of  Jesus 
Christ,  there  has  only,  as  it  were,  dawned  on  us  the  morn- 
ing streaks  of  a  day,  which  a  thousand  vicissitudes  may 
overcast  and  utterly  deface;  it  is  but  a  star  of  hope  that 
hath  peered  through  the  sorrowful  gloom,  unto  which,  if  we 
take  steadfast  heed,  the  day  will  dawn,  and  the  day-star 
arise  upon  our  hearts — but  if  not,  then  double  darkness  and 
tenfold  dismay  will  cover  us  for  evermore. 

The  true  character  of  Sin,  therefore,  I  hold,  both  by  the 
example  of  the  reprobate  angels  and  the  history  of  man's 
redemption,  is,  that  it  brings  with  it  irremediable  conclu- 
sions. I  he  Saviour's  powerful  arm  hath  as  it  were  made  a 
little  clear  space  around  us  for  holy  action,  and  opened  a  bore 
in  the  cloudy  heavens  through  which  the  light  of  restora- 
tion may  come  in  upon  the  hopeless  earth.  And  this  illu- 
minated spot  shifts  about  and  about  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  a  thousand  angels  of  darkness  are  aye  endeavour- 
ing to  scarf  up  the  bright  sign  of  mercy  in  the  heavens.  Oh! 
they  grudge  us  so  much  won  from  their  rightful  dominion 
over  a  sinful  place,  and  it  is  a  fearful  struggle  which  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  hath  to  maintain  against  them. 
They  come  on,  howling  for  their  own  like  wolves  that  have 
been  scared  from  their  prey.  When  the  dawn  visits  another 
region,  they  raise  commotions  to  shut  it  out.  Thrones  they 
rally  under  their  black  banners,  and  principalities  under 
their  ensign  of  darkness;  false  religion  makes  them  drunk 
with  the  cup  of  her  abominations,  and  they  rush  full  upon 
the  servants  of  the  lord  like  incarnate  demons  from  the  pit. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  259 

Sin  is  the  lord  of  this  earth,  and  grudgeth  hard  to  give  up 
what  he  hath  won  in  the  fatal  garden. 

To  confirm  all  these  remarks  upon  the  nature  of  Sin,  I 
request  your  attention  again  to  the  history  of  the  fall,  which 
will  show  the  truth  of  what  is  said  above, — that  sinning 
against  God  is  not  like  an  offence  against  human  laws,  pun- 
ishable in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  offence;  but  involves 
a  total  loss  of  the  happy  form  of  being,  an  everlasting  change, 
unless  some  specialty  in  the  case  should  allow  of  a  speci- 
alty in  the  treatment,  and  an  abrogation  for  a  while  and  in 
part  of  the  fatal  irreversible  sentence.  For  I  hold  that  our 
dispensation  of  mercy  is  but  a  keeping  off  for  a  space  of  the 
fatal  issues,  and  the  clearing  of  a  little  ground  on  which  we 
may  enter  the  lists,  and  have  a  bout  with  the  enemy  for  our 
deliverance.  Who  it  was  that  procured  us  such  a  chance 
for  our  life  we  all  know;  why  the  Saviour  took  for  us  such 
affection,  and  encountered  for  us  such  hazard,  we  know  not, 
except  it  were  that  we  were  involved  with  Adam,  without 
having  a  stand  for  ourselves;  but  however  this  may  be, 
much  illustration  of  the  question  in  hand  will  be  derived 
from  looking  back  at  the  history  of  the  fall. 

When  we  look  upon  this  earth  as  now  we  see  it,  drench- 
ed with  the  gore  of  its  children,  and  overcast  with  the  clouds 
of  darkness,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  what  it  was  at 
its  birth — But  we  know  from  Scripture,  that  God  pronoun- 
ced every  part  of  it  very  good.  It  was  another  variety  of 
the  constitution  of  heaven,  of  other  elements  composed,  and 
by  other  laws  ordained,  but  in  nothing  untoward  or  unhap- 
py. It  came  forth  of  God's  most  blessed  word,  and  touch- 
ed with  the  cordial  of  happy  life,  every  sense  of  every  sen- 
sitive thing.  When  finished,  it  stood  a  goodly  expression  of 
its  Maker's  good-will.  Sorrow  was  not  indigenous  to  our 
planet,  nor  did  this  eclipse  of  the  Divinity  frown  upon  her 
birth;  her  birth-star  was  the  light  of  her  Maker's  counte- 
nance; her  birth-song  was  the  music  of  the  starred  spheres; 
her  birth-right  was  a  womb  teeming  with  wholesome  fruits, 
and  the  ornaments  of  her  birth  was  a  face  clothed  with  beau- 
ty, and  blushing  with'  virtue,  happiness,  and  peace.  Into 
this  stately  palace,  created  and  furnished  for  his  reception, 
man  was  introduced  to  rule  over  it  and  enjoy  it.  Every 
creature  was  brought  to  him  in  sign  of  homage,  that  he 
might  bestow  upon  it  a  name  by  which  it  should  know  to 
hear  and  obey  his  voice.  The  whole  platform  of  his  being 
was  erected  for  happiness  ever  to  endure.  While  there  was 
no  sin,  there  was  no  sorrow  of  any  kind;  he  enjoyed  with 


260  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

God  a  close  communion,  and  the  angels  of  God  ministered 
to  his  enjoyment — his  whole  soul  was  pure  and  untroubled. 
But,  as  it  is  not  possible  for  any  creature  formed  by  the 
hand  of  God,  to  exist  without  a  law,  and  an  obligation  to 
his  Maker,  the  first  man  had  also  an  ordinance  given  to 
him.  He  was  placed  in  the  midst  of  a  garden  teeming  with 
every  wholesome  fruit  and  joyful  fragrance,  of  all  which  it 
was  freely  given  him  to  eat;  one  only  tree  was  withheld 
from  his  taste,  upon  the  refraining  from  which  his  trial  turn- 
ed. What  might  be  the  reason  for  this  form  of  trial  we 
know  not,  and  cannot  stay  to  inquire.  It  seems  to  our  minds  a 
silly  matter  to  deprive  him  of  this,  when  bestowing  upon  him 
so  much.  But  this  serves  to  show  that  the  nature  of  a  sin- 
ful act,  lies  not  in  the  magnitude  or  enormity  of  the  thing 
done  against  the  word  of  God,  but  in  casting  away  the  rear 
of  God,  and  forgetting  our  obligations  to  him  so  far,  as  even 
to  admit  the  thought  of  acting  for  our  own  mterest,  or  any 
interest  adverse  to  him  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being.  The  evil  lies  not  in  the  magnitude  but  in  the 
nature  of  the  thing;  in  being  off  our  guard  when  we  should 
be  guarded  round  by  a  whole  host  of  affections  and  obliga- 
tions. The  banishing  of  these  from  our  side  is  the  front  of 
the  offence.  Nay  more,  Adam,  being  surrounded  so  on  every 
side  with  memorials  of  his  Maker's  goodness,  and  saluted 
ever  and  anon  with  the  welcome  of  his  Maker's  voice,  tast- 
ing and  enjoying  at  every  sense,  was  the  more  guilty  that 
the  thing  was  small  from  which  he  was  hindered.  The  ba- 
lance of  restraint  was  the  less  against  the  weight  of  his  pos- 
session, the  inducement  to  disobt  y  was  the  weaker,  and  the 
argument  to  obey  the  stronger — but  this  by  the  way. 

What  I  request  your  attention  to  more  especially  in  the 
illustration  of  this  argument,  is  the  diversity  of  this  consti- 
tution of  Paradise  from  any  constitution  of  human  laws. 
There  is  no  code  limiting  liberty  on  every  side;  there  is  no 
scale  of  crimes  passing  each  other  in  the  deepness  of  their 
die,  nor  corresponding  scale  of  punishments  rising  the  one 
above  the  other  in  severity  of  infliction.  One  simple  action 
decides  the  question  of  sinfulness  or  innocence;  and  upon 
that  action,  though  to  us  it  seems  of  slight  offence,  the  whole 
condition  of  the  creature  turns.  There  is  no  proportion  be- 
tween crime  and  punishment.  There  is  a  line  and  limita- 
tion, which  being  once  crossed,  however  slightly,  brings  as 
it  were  by  magic  an  entire  transformation  of  nature,  and 
transmutation  of  condition. 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  ,  261 

Now,  having  remarked  the  constitution,  remark  next,  in 
the  event,  the  nature  of  the  judgment,  and  of  the  issues, 
for  it  casts  the  greatest  light  upon  the  whole  subject  of  this 
argument.  He  transgressed;  instantly  all  former  things  de- 
parted from  him  like  the  shadow  of  a  dream,  and  new  things 
took  possession  of  him  as  when  that  dream  is  broken.  In- 
stead of  his  virgin  purity  came  thoughts  of  shame,  which 
are  the  offspring  of  a  lustful  heart;  instead  of  his  open-faced 
honesty,  came  concealment;  instead  of  avowal,  came  apo-* 
logy;  his  love  of  God  changed  into  fear  and  cunning;  his 
love  of  his  wife  changed  into  chiding.  And  not  only  did 
his  own  nature  lose  its  virgin  hues,  and  take  on  the  tints  of 
every  crime  which  hath  been  perpetrated  by  his  unhappy 
children,  but  every  thing  on  which  he  looked,  which  he 
touched  or  handled,  fled  from  its  condition,  and  sunk  ali)ng 
with  him,  as  if  all  nature  had  shifted  and  removed  away 
from  its  place  and  endowment.  The  earth  forgot  her  vo- 
luntary fruitfulness,  and  bristled  with  noisome  prickly  weeds; 
the  plants  forgot  their  wholesomeness;  the  creature  their 
peacefulness;  mankind  their  blessedness;  that  very  instant 
the  world  became  the  scene  of  that  solitary  transgression. 
And  it  is  irremediable.  Kind  transmits  its  kind,  age  suc- 
ceedeth  age,  but  no  solitary  creature  can  get  within  the  an- 
cient conditions  of  its  nature.  It  rolls  on  a  deluge  of  ini- 
quity, which  no  power  prevaileth  to  stem.  Cities  need  to 
be  consumed  with  fire  from  heaven;  nations  to  be  rooted 
out;  and  the  whole  earth  to  be  washed  with  the  waters  of 
vengeance.  But,  true  to  the  curse,  it  sprouts  and  procreates 
new  generations,  possessed  of  the  same  corrupt  and  dege- 
nerated nature.  This  then  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter,  that  sin  against  God  is  not  like  a  human  offence,  to 
be  atoned  for  by  a  certain  measure  of  punishment,  and  so 
wiped  away,  but  that  it  is  a  great  crisis  in  the  existence  of 
every  creature,  whereon  its  destiny  turns  for  ever. 

These  are  subjects  a  good  deal  beyond  our  span,  and 
therefore  the  best  way  is  to  learn  modestly  from  the  reve- 
lation of  God.  This  we  have  endeavoured  to  do  from  the 
only  instances  upon  record,  the  reprobate  angels  and  fallen 
man;  and  the  conclusion  is,  that  sin  maketh  all  former  things 
to  cease.  The  intri'nsical  glory  of  the  creature  is  dismantled, 
the  neighbourhood  of  God  is  changed  into  cold  exile  and 
alienation.  For  we  hear  no  more  of  the  Lord  God  walking 
in  the  midst  of  their  habitations,  to  hold  converse  with  the 
sons  of  men.  He  could  not  live  with  any  one  who  had  de* 
filed  himself.    The  good  God  could  not  brook  the  neigh- 

34 


62  OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME, 

bourhood  of  his  goodly  handy  work,  so  soon  as  it  had  sin- 
ned. From  these  instances,  the  only  two  upon  record,  I 
not  only  deduce  the  veritable  effect  of  sin  to  imprint  a  last- 
ing stain,  but  I  might  also  raise  an  argument  against  the 
amiable  enthusiasts  with  whom  I  have  at  present  to  do  upon 
the  question  of  the  excessive  disproportion  which  they  say 
there  is  between  everlasting  misery  and  a  limited  lifetime  of 
sinfulness.  Although  1  deny  this  method  of  proceeding  by 
proportion  to  be  consonant  with  the  facts  of  divine  punction 
of  sin,  yet  for  the  sake  of  their  prejudice  upon  this  head,  I 
will  raise  an  argument  of  the  proportion  of  future  punish- 
ment with  present  sinfulness,  from  this  only  instance  of 
punishment  executed  against  an  evil  work  which  we  have 
upon  record. 

Let  us  then  go  coolly  to  estimate.  Here  did  one  trans- 
gression '  bring  death  into  this  world  with  all  our  woe;'  all 
sufferings  that  have  been,  that  are,  and  that  are  to  be,  are 
from  the  womb  of  this  big  sentence.  All  diseases,  sick- 
nesses, sorrows  and  death,  with  all  unseen,  unknown  effects 
of  death,  are  the  tribute  which  mankind  have  paid  for  that 
one  commission.  All  waste  and  revolution  and  convulsions, 
whether  of  the  labouring  elements  or  of  troubled  life,  were 
bred  when  Adam  fell,  and  have  continued  to  propagate 
their  kind.  War,  fire  and  pestilence;  hunger,  thirst  and 
nakedness;  pain,  horror  and  anguish;  the  woeful  stings  with- 
in the  breast;  and  the  whips  of  fortune,  which  ever  overlay 
the  content  and  peace  of  man,  did  issue  out  of  hell  and 
reign  on  earth  when  innocence  forsook  our  abode.  And 
they  continue  to  have  the  dominion  over  us,  notwithstand- 
ing of  the  great  atonement.  Yea,  though  the  Son  of  God 
stripped  himself  to  our  aid,  and  finished  a  work  of  redemp- 
tion, still  the  enemies  of  the  earth  make  that  strong  and 
terrible  head  which  we  see  in  every  land,  and  which  every 
one  feeleth  within  the  bounds  of  his  own  experience.  Against 
all  the  aids  and  graces  of  the  Spirit  of  God  shed  without 
measure,  behold  the  enormous  accumulation  of  grief  with 
which  we  are  weighed  down.  Reason,  then,  if  one  trans- 
gression was  followed  by  such  abalienation  of  man  and  man's 
habitation,  and  man's  innumerable  posterity,  insomuch  that 
had  not  a  remedy  cast  up,  and  a  corrective  been  introduced, 
there  is  no  saying  at  what  stage  ot  mercy  we  might  have 
stopped,  and  whether  there  might  have  been  any  need  to 
translate  the  wretched  people  to  any  sorer  habitation; — 
Reason,  I  say,  if  thus  they  fell  from  friend-like  converse 
and  communion  with  the  highest,  to  such  a  pitch  that  the 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  2G3 

earth  needed  to  be  eased  of  them,  and  washed  clean  for  a 
new  experiment;  if,  by  fault  of  one  transgression  they  fell, 
till  out  of  their  devoted  myriads  there  could  be  found  only 
one  family  in  all,  and  out  of  their  devoted  cities  only  one 
family  in  all,  which  was  not  worthy  of  instant  cutting  off. — 
"What,  what  must  come  to  pass,  when  each  one  of  us,  co- 
vered with  more  sins  than  there  are  hairs  upon  his  head, 
and  pregnant  with  as  many  iniquities  as  his  bosom  hath 
conceived  thoughts,  shall  come  up  for  judgment  into  the 
presence  of  that  Holy  God,  who  could  not  brook  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  his  goodly  handy  work  when  once,  but  once, 
it  had  contravened  his  Holy  Law!  Can  you,  with  this  only 
instance  of  execution  against  evil  before  your  eyes,  doubt 
as  improbable,  deny  as  incredible,  or  dtride  as  impossible, 
the  issues  of  hell,  which  are  threatened  upon  those  who 
hold  out  against  proffered  mercy,  spurning  the  name  of  Je- 
sus from  the  honourable  places  of  their  heart,  defying  the 
power,  and  refusing  the  intercession  of  heaven? 

Think  of  the  difference  of  the  two  cases,  and  say  if  the 
difference  of  the  two  issues  be  so  disproportionate?  There 
was  in  the  former  nothing  to  be  gained.  In  the  latter,  hea- 
ven is  to  be  gained  and  hell  avoided.  There  was  in  the 
former  no  taste  of  sin's  miserable  fruits;  in  the  latter,  there 
is  one  constant  experience  of  their  bitterness;  in  the  former 
case  the  mind  was  deliberative  only  for  a  brief  moment,  it 
decided  wrong,  and  all  instantaneously  vanished.  In  the 
latter,  the  mind  is  deliberative  a  whole  lifetime,  it  decides 
wrong,  vengeance  tarries;  it  decides  wrong  again,  still  ven- 
geance sleeps:  so  mercifully  are  we  dealt  with  through  the 
whole  period  of  human  life.  Adam  was  a  perfect  man,  it 
is  true;  but  then  in  his  case  nothing  but  continued  perfec- 
tion would  do.  His  posterity  are  less  perfect  men;  but  less, 
far  less  than  perfection  by  the  grace  of  God  will  do. 

Thus  by  every  method  we  would  apprehend  the  truth  of 
the  revelation  of  changeless  conditions,  which  these  amiable 
enthusiasts  sacrifice  before  a  beautiful  fiction  they  have  im- 
agined of  the  goodness  and  mercy  of  God,  as  if  that  attri- 
bute was  not  compatible  with  the  existence  in  the  universe 
-of  sorrowful  and  suffering  creatures.  But  they  understand 
not  what  they  dote  upon,  neither  consider  the  condition  of 
all  created  things,  which  are  not  like  the  eternal  Jehovah, 
obnoxious  to  no  change  and  infallible,  but  have  a  limitation 
of  being,  and  exist  within  bounded  habitations,  which  it  is 
always  possible  for  them  to  overpass.  They  are  kept  in 
loyal  fealty  by  the  happiness  and  joy  that  toucheth  all  their 


264f  OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

nature,  and  exciteth  in  it  sweet  emotion;  by  the  sunshine  of 
(iocl's  pleasant  countenance  in  which  they-  bask,  they  are 
enamoured  of  all  good  thoughts  and  obedient  offices.  But 
upon  the  other  hand,  *  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,'  they 
are  kept  from  disobedience  by  the  knowledge  of  the  woe 
which  sin  worketh  upon  their  whole  estate,  and  by  the  ex- 
hibition within  the  limits  of  creation  of  that  woe  and  wick- 
edness which  it  hath  actually  wrought.  Take  that  exhibi- 
tion away,  let  sin  cease  to  engender  sorrow,  let  the  outcast 
leturn  back  to  his  heritage  after  a  season  of  forfeiture,  and 
J  ou  do  at  once  leave  the  stability  of  happy  creatures  unsup- 
|Jorted  upon  the  one  side,  you  fall  foul  of  the  most  ancient 
constitution  in  creation,  and  take  the  key-stone  from  the 
arch  of  the  happy  universe. 

It  is  easy  and  pleasant  for  us  to  sacrifice  every  thing  for 
the  stake  which  we  have  in  the  issue;  so  pleasant  and  easy 
would  it  be  for  the  criminal  at  the  bar,  that  inquisition  and 
sentence  should  flee  before  the  face  of  mercy;  and  it  would 
l»e  very  good  natured  in  the   Judge  to   grant  the  prayer  of 
}iis  request.     But  what  comes  of  honest  and  upright  men 
thereby?    Where  is  their  safety,  if  thus  justice  is  to  be  bar- 
tered away  to  womanish  weakness,  or  to  the  cry  of  entreat- 
ing nature?  There  would  ascend  from  every  prison  a  cry  of 
lamentation  and  mercy,  and  the  prison  doors  would  be  open- 
ed to  vomit  forth  upon  the  works  of  peaceful  men,  a  herd 
of  depredators  to  grub  up  the  fruits  of  their  labours  like  the 
locusts  of  the  East,  and  despoil  their  happiness  like  an  army 
of  red-handed  savages.     Can  God  hang  the  universe  upon 
his  nod  with  less  stability  of  purpose  than  is  needful  for  the 
government  of  a  petty  state?  It  is  impossible.     It  is  fine, 
very  fine,  for  men  to  reason  of  mercy,  and  draw  after  them 
a  train  of  good-natured  thoughtless  people,  and  take  credit 
over  those  who  stand  up  for  the  awful  sovereignty  of  right, 
and  the  terrible  punishment  of  wrong.  But  what  mean  they 
by  such  paltry  cozenage  of  the  people?  Do  they  not  see  how 
they  open  the  sluices  of  evil  nature,  and   give  inlet  to  a 
sweeping  deluge  of  iniquity?  They  demolish  divine  law, 
they  render  Christ's  sacrifice   vain,  they  spoil  him  of  his 
power  over  the  heart,  and  give  every  demon  of  darkness  a 
hol\  day  to  rejoice  and  be  active.  They  know  not  the  nature 
of  man,  how  with   hope  in  the  distance  he  can  endure  any 
tribulation,  and  pass  through  it  unmoved.     Who  cares  for 
hell,  when  heaven  is  to   bring  out  the  conclusion  of  it  with 
a  shout  of  gratulation?  Who  cares  for  righteousness,  when 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  265. 

wickedness  will  succeed  in  the  end  as  Well?  Who  cares  for 
God,  when  in  despite  of  God  we  shall  win  our  own  again. 

Vi'hat  may  be  in  the  womb  of  eternity,  I  know  not, 
"Whether  ther©  may  be  a  visit  paid  to  hell's  habitations  by 
another  *  mighty  to  save'  I  know  not.  Whether  there  may 
be  some  other  dispensations  of  mercy  to  the  abject  creatures 
when  this  dispensation  is  fulfilled,  another  trial  of  the  for- 
lorn creatures,  and  another  levy  of  righteous  men  carried 
after  probation  and  sanctification  to  heaven,  and  so,  dispen- 
sation after  dispensation,  the  numbers  of  the  damned  thin- 
ned and  thinned  ontil  at  length  they  shall  be  all  recovered 
•—these  things  there  is  not  one  shadow  of  revelation  to  in- 
duce the  hope  of,  and  therefore  I  declare  it  to  be  the  most 
daring  invasion  upon  the  prerogative  of  God,  the  most  mon- 
strous abuse  of  his  gracious  revelation,  and  the  most  danger- 
ous unloosing  of  its  power  over  men,  to  set  forth  as  certain, 
as  probable,  or  even  as  possible,  such  doctrines  as  are  wont 
to  be  set  forth  amongst  us. 

It  seems  a  cruel  hearted  thing  thus  to  argue  against  an 
opinion  which  hath  in  it  such  a  show  of  tender  mercy,  and 
consign  to  eternal  abodes  of  darkness  and  dismay  the  souls 
and  bodies  of  my  fellow  men;  but  I  am  convinced  that  it  is 
the  greatest  mercy  upon  the  whole  thus  to  state  the  plain 
unvarnished  truth.  For  such  are  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a 
season,  that  while  we  can  look  hell  in  the  face  we  will  con- 
tinue to  follow  after  them,  and  so  defeat  all  the  good  ends 
of  present  enjoyment  and  future  blessedness  which  God 
aimeth  by  revelation  to  bring  about.  Now,  this  opinion  doth 
just  make  hell  such  a  thing  as  human  nature  can  tolerate, 
and  so  panders  to  every  evil  tendency  of  our  nature  which 
this  awful  issue  was  intended  to  refrain.  A  vague  indefini- 
tude  settles  down  upon  the  mind,  little  better  than  positive 
disbelief.  It  is  content  to  run  the  risk,  not  perceiving  its 
magnitude;  it  exaggerates  the  mercy  of  God  in  the  propor- 
tion of  its  own  need  of  mercy;  it  seems  to  do  him  the  more 
honour  the  more  it  magnifies  this  lovely  attribute;  it  shud- 
ders at  every  one  as  a  monster  who  can  imagine  God  to  be 
of  a  sterner,  firmer  mood;  and  by  dwelling  upon  thts  topic 
constantly,  sin  drops  its  heinousness,  the  law  loses  its 
strength,  the  future  is  disburdened  of  its  fear,  and  life  goes 
on  just  the  same  as  if  God  had  overlaid  it  with  no  rule, 
and  required  of  us  no  account.  The  whole  constitution  is 
defeated,  and  all  the  ends  of  divint  government  are  made 
null  and  void.  Now  what  good,  what  beauty,  what  mercy 
is  there,  in  thus  defeating  all  God's  intentions  for  the  re- 


2C}i)  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

novation  of  mankind,  and  bringing  us  back  into  the  same 
pass  from  which  he  hath  sent  his  Son  to  recover  us. 

I  allow  that  if  God  had  actaally  consigned  some  portion 
of  men  to  these  awful  abodes,  brought  them  into  being,  bred 
them   up  in  wicked   training,  that  he  might   ship  them  off 
like    Africans  to  work  his  pleasure  in  the  infernal  pit,  I 
should   have  stood  amazed   and  horror-struck  no  less  than 
they,  and   cried,  Let  such  a  tenet  be  hunted  from  the  face 
of  the  earth,  back  again  into  the  detestable  brain  which  bred 
it.    But,  seeing  all  men  Intreated  to  shun  this  direful  abyss, 
and   Jesus  sent  from   heaven  to  redeem  all  from  its  curse, 
and  open  up,  to  all,  the  gate  which  leadeth  unto  honour  and 
life,  I  marvel  greatly  how  any  man  can  be  so  thoughtless  as 
to  defeat  the  progrees  of  this  salvation  by  undervaluing  the 
misery  from  which  it  is  to  save  us.     It  is  to  unpeople  hea- 
ven and  to  people  hell,  to  forge  such  notions.   For  it  musters 
the  resolutions  of  men  to  meet  the  issue.     Whereas,  Christ 
would  utterly  defeat  that  resolution,  would   make  nature 
shrink  with   horror  from  the  foul  and  fearful  catastrophe, 
that  she  may  turn  round  as  in  desperation  and  call  on  God 
for  mercy.  I  declare  it  is  to  blunt  conscience,  and  make  the 
shafts  of  conviction  harmless,  and  leave  men  at  will  to  re- 
ject the  Gospel.  Nay,  truly,  the  avenue  of  sin  must  be  shut 
by  the  horrid  shapes  of  fear  and  shrieks  of  horror  which  are 
heard  onward,  a  little  onward,  from  the  place  we  now  oc- 
cupy. But  if  instead  we  heard  the  voice  of  hope  and  expec- 
tation, the  bold  purpose  of  endurance,  and  the  cheerful  call 
to  a  little  patience,  when  all  should  be  well;  if  we  saw  them 
mounting  to  heaven  on  joyful  wing  from  the  surface  of  the 
sulphurous  lake,  an  active  intercourse  passing   across  the 
gulf;  then  what  were  it  but  a  bold  adventure  like  that  which 
voyagers  make  to  inhospitable  climes,  a  threading  of  diffi- 
cult   sounds    and  dangerous   straits,  ifor    the   glory  which 
awaits  us  when  our  labour  is  complete — an  adventure  which 
it  were  accounted  poverty  of  character  to  fear,  resolution  to 
undertake,  nnd  heroism  to  have  braved.  These  speculators, 
I   say,  know  not   that   human   nature  which   they  study  to 
please.  They  please  it  at  the  expense  of  all  that  is  great  and 
noble.     They  make  hell  tolerable  at  the  expense  of  making 
heaven  indifferent.     And  by  consequence,  none  of  the  pow- 
ers of  heaven  come  down  to  possess  the  soul.     There  is  no 
regeneration  of  th^  inner  man,  or  recovery  of  the  divine 
image.   The  world  continues  in  its  pitiful  plight,  for  want  of 
heaven-born  characters  to  do  deeds  which  breathe  of  hea- 
ven.    If  we  can  make  the  ends  of  God's  amplified  mercy 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  267 

and  our  own  diminished  character  to  meet,  we  are  content. 
As  the  one  decreases,  im3gination  extends  the  other.  And 
so  we  pass  into  dwarfishness  in  respect  of  good,  and  into 
enormity  in  respect  of  evil. 

Hut  as  I  said,  it  is  heaven  the  Saviour  preaches,  not  hell- 
Hell  is  not  the  alternative  to  be  chosen,  and  therefore  it  is 
made  horrible  beyond  all  choice.  Hell  is  the  fire  from  which 
the  divine  mercy  would  pluck  us.  And  it  is  conceived  in 
every  odious  and  shocking  guise,  to  horrify  human  feelings 
as  much  as  material  fire  and  sulphureous  smoke  and  dark- 
ness horrify  the  real  sense  of  man.  It  is  described  so  as  to 
make  the  mind  suffer  from  the  thought,  as  much  as  the  body 
suffers  from  the  most  horrid  torments.  But  why?  because  it 
is  the  truth,  and  that  we  might  know  the  truth,  and  take  hold 
of  the  hand  that  is  stretched  out  to  save  us.  If  ever  hell 
were  described  in  Scripture,  as  oft  it  is  in  an  enthusiast's 
sermon,  out  of  a  fell  delight  in  cleaving  the  general  ear  with 
horrid  speech;  if  ever  it  was  made  like  a  torturing  tool  in 
the  hands  of  angry  priests,  to  torture  the  souls  of  those 
whose  party  or  faction  they  hate,  then  let  it  be  condemned 
and  heard  of  no  more;  but  if  with  sympathy  and  pity  it  be 
spoken  as  the  sad  decree  gone  forth  against  sin,  and  if  forth- 
with, when  it  hath  taken  hold  of  the  soul,  recovery  and  re- 
storation be  preached,  and  a  way  to  avoid  its  terrors  and 
surmount  its  fears,  and  ascend  to  the  bosom  of  God;  then, 
I  say,  let  it  be  discoursed  of  while  there  is  one  single  crea- 
ture upon  earth  who  dotes  and  dreams  upon  its  confines 
without  any  tear  of  its  s  >  othering  and  consuming  effects 
upon  the  happiness  and  well-being  of  his  soul. 

An  mnocent  child  not  many  weeks  old  will  in  its  igno- 
rance grasp  the  flame  of  a  taper  in  its  tender  hand,  and 
bring  excruciating  agony  upon  its  little  frame.  But  by  that 
experiment  it  is  taught  the  power  of  fire,  and  saved  from 
rushing  into  the  midst  of  the  flames,  and  losing  its  precious 
life.  Such  little  children  we  are.  So  accustomed  to  sin,  sor- 
row hath  become  so  indigenous  to  our  nature,  we  are  as  it 
•were  so  annealed  to  suffering;  or  rather  this  state  is  so 
dubious  between  good  and  ill,  mercy  and  justice  mingling 
so  confusedly,  pleasure  and  pain  so  wildly,  God  is  so  long- 
suffering,  and  the  Gospel  so  gracious,  that  we  cannot  fancy  a 
place  whence  mercy  is  clean  gone  for  ever;  we  cannot  fan- 
cy pure  unadulterated  evil,  pure  unmitigated  sorrow,  absent 
hope,  absent  consolation,  absolute  misery  and  flat  despair. 
"We  are  to  the  future  world  of  woe  what  new- born  children 
are  to  the  present  world  of  existence,  totally  unacquainted 


26S  OP  JUDGMENT  TO    COME. 

with  its  objects  and  uith  the  strange  feelings  which  these 
objects  will  excite.  What  could  God  do,  but  give  us  a  fore- 
taste, so  far  as  language  of  the  earth  can  dress  out,  and  so 
far  as  conception  can  taste,  the  savour  of  bad  things  to  come. 
This  smaller  experiment  he  makes  upon  us  like  the  smaller 
experiment  which  the  child  makes  with  the  flame  of  the  ta- 
per, in  order  to  save  us  from  the  more  fatal  consequence 
which  shall  come,  when  we  plunge  soul  and  body,  and  are 
bathed  through  every  pore  with  the  overwhelming  sensa- 
tions of  its  agony. 

And  is  God  to  be  blamed  for  being  so  copious  of  his  re- 
velations to  men,  the  more  to  excite  them  on  every  side  to 
a  glorious  ascension  up  on  high?  Say,  that  he  had  kept  this 
side  of  the  picture  under  the  vail,  set  forth  heaven  but  > 
avoided  all  mention  of  hell — then  he  would  have  deprived 
his  dispensation  of  half  its  power;  It  would  have  continued 
to  have  a  purchase  upon  our  hopes,  but  it  would  have  lost 
all  purchase  upon  our  fears.  Now  it  is  the  opinion  of  the 
best  philosophers,  that  the  activity  of  man  is  more  prompt- 
ed by  the  sense  of  present  inconvenience  and  the  fear  of  por- 
tending evils,  than  by  the  taste  of  present  pleasures  and  the 
sense  of  future  advantage.  And  not  only  would  you  have 
lost  all  power  over  this  side  of  man,  but  you  would  have 
lost  half  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  the  dispensation. 
What  means  this  law,  if  the  disobedience  of  it  draws  on  no 
consequences?  What  difference  between  those  who  keep  it 
and  those  who  keep  it  not?  for  there  is  none  revealed.  What 
means  this  dispensation  of  the  wrath  of  God  against  his  in- 
offensive Son?  Why  thus  restrain  our  natural  inclinations? 
Why  vex  us  with  constant  calls  to  repentance?  What  better 
of  this  ascetic  life.  Why  not  live  as  we  list?  Who  could 
have  answered  these  questions,  if  it  had  not  been  revealed 
that  these  rebellious  courses  led  down  into  the  second  death, 
which  is  aye  endured  but  never  ended!  This  revelation  of 
hell  is  therefore  the  'vantage  ground  on  which  the  genius 
of  the  Gospel  stands,  and  from  which  she  points  aloft  to 
heaven. 

Therefore  it  is  not  true  to  Scripture,  it  is  baneful  to  hu- 
man improvement  in  the  long  run,  it  is  not  manly  withal, 
thus  to  shrink  from  knowing  the  worst;  and  it  is  very  wick- 
ed to  make  the  worst  palatable.  Let  it  stand  as  the  Scrip- 
ture hath  stated  it,  I  ask  no  more,  but  be  not  ye  poisoned 
by  a  philosophy,  falsely  so  called.  Palliate  not  the  worst, 
but  avoid  it,  i  pray  you;  flee  from  it;  take  to  righteousness, 
and  aim  at  heaven.     This  is  your  resource;  and  when  this 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  269 

resource  is  closed  against  you,  then  is  your  season  to  com- 
plain. But  at  present,  when  all  paradise  unfolds  its  bosom 
to  embrace  us  within  its  happy  bowers,  for  us  to  be  deba- 
ting whether  hell  is  tolerable,  and  whether  we  had  not  bet- 
ter run  our  chance  awhile  in  its  sulphurous  pit,  doth  indi- 
cate a  downward  bent  of  nature  not  to  be  endured,  much 
less  pandered  to.  If  any  man,  though  hell  endured  but  a 
lifetime,  were  in  a  mood  to  take  his  cast  therein,  rather  than 
at  once  enter  into  tht  company  of  God  and  the  unfallen,  he 
is  a  grovelling,  lustful  creature,  whom  heaven  would  not  be 
polluted  with  for  an  instant. 


35 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 
PART  VIII. 


THE  ONLY  WAY  TO  ESCAPE  CONDEMNATION  AND 
WRATH  TO  COME. 

From  these  awful  sceines  which  we  have  been  faintly 
sketching  out,  for  in  their  fulness  of  joy  or  fulness  of  sor- 
row it  is  not  given  to  man  either  to  know  or  to  describe 
them,  we  return  to  visible  things;  and,  planting  ourselves 
upon  the  populous  earth,  we  could  wish  to  lift  up  a  voice 
like  the  last  trumpet  in  the  ears  of  men:  How  are  you  to 
escape  this  condemnation  and  wrath  to  come?  But,  alas! 
there  is  no  voice  like  the  last  trumpet,  to  reach  the  ear  of 
perishing  men;  and  unless  the  Lord  hasten  to  pour  his  Spi- 
rit upon  all  flesh,  the  abject  people  will  die  ignorant  of  sal- 
vation, and  for  ever  perish  from  the  way  of  everlasting 
peace.  Do  Thou,  who  gavest  thy  Son  for  sinful  men,  now 
quicken  my  thoughts,  that  they  may  come  forth  full  of  di- 
vine life,  to  plant  their  likeness  in  every  bosom  to  which 
these  pages  may  come!  This,  truly,  is  my  prayer.  But  were 
my  God  pleased  to  grant  me  this,  how  little  doth  it  avail 
among  the  myriads  in  this  world! — among  the  myriads  even 
in  this  empire — among  the  myriads  even  in  this  city,  who 
are  perishing  under  the  mortal  disease  of  sinfulness,  which 
hath  spread  into  the  heart  of  every  cottage,  and  is  fast  haul- 
ing its  unvisited  and  unpitied  inmates  to  habitations  of  mi- 
sery. There  is  an  establishment  of  physicians  to  make  known 
the  remedy  unto  the  people,  and  there  are  houses  open  where 
the  remedy  is  made  known.  But,  alas!  the  people  know  not 
of  the  soul-consuming  malady,  and  having  none  to  tell  them, 
they  come  not  to  be  cured;  while  in  their  darkness  Satan 
revelleth,  wasting  them  with  lust  and  pride  and  quarrel. 
The  miserable  people  have  no  chance  of  being  delivered, 
unless  the  Lord  will  awaken  his  congregation,  and  send  them 
forth  on  errands  of  salvation.  Oh,  for  the  spirit  of  a  Paul, 


^Hr 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  211 

to  lead  the  congregation  forth  upon  this  errantry  of  good! 
Oh,  for  the  spirit  of  a  Loyola,  to  bind  them  in  a  harmony 
of  exertion;  Oh,  for  the  spirit  of  a  Luther,  to  make  them 
fearless  of  infringing  established  things: — that  a  reforma- 
tion might  come  about,  which  would  not  need  to  be  reform- 
ed. But,  I  think  Religion  hath  learned  to  make  men  tame 
and  cowardly,  whom  anciently  she  made  undaunted.  The 
men  of  God  hardly  speak  above  their  breath,  who  were  wont 
to  ring  doom  and  woe  into  every  impeding  minister  of  evil. 
They  creep  about  under  the  colossal  limbs  of  power,  and 
cry  mercy  instead  of  denouncing  vengeance.  It  is  an  ag« 
in  which  the  ancient  spirit  is  well  nigh  extinct;  but  it  will 
revive  again  in  this  land,  which  hath  been  famous  for  the 
junction  of  manhood  with  religion;  when  to  the  piety  and 
the  humility  of  the  church,  will  be  added  her  ancient  fear- 
lessness and  heroism  and  activity.  And  the  offence  of  the 
offending  will  be  feared  no  longer;  Christian  spirit  will  re- 
sume its  boldness,  Christian  sight  its  watchfulness;  every 
priest  will  be  a  watchman  in  Zion,  and  every  Christian  a 
soldier  around  its  walls. 

It  dispirits  me  while  I  undertake  to  write,  to  think  how 
much  better  the  subject  hath  been  written  before,  and  how 
darkness  triumphs  over  all  the  light  which  hath  been  scat- 
tered abroad.  No  sooner  doth  a  book  with  any  nerve  appear, 
which  might  make  invasion  upon  Satan's  reign,  than  he  co- 
vers it  with  the  disparagement  of  some  hated  name,  calling 
it  enthusiastical,  gloomy,  or  ascetic,  and  so  keeps  it  from 
coming  into  those  places  where  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust 
of  the  eye,  and  the  pride  of  life,  have  their  strongest  holds. 
Or  he  raiseth  up  some  strong-minded,  light-witted  scoffer, 
to  argue  or  laugh  it  down,  whereof  he  hath  establishments 
— scholars,  wits,  and  critics — who  hate  the  very  visage  of  a 
genuine  disciple  of  Christ,  and  are  aye  ready  to  asperse  any 
book  which  is  marked  with  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  and  send  it 
into  the  arcana  of  oblivion.  And,  oh!  the  natural  man  loveth 
any  thing  better  than  to  hear  of  this  new  birth  and  regene- 
ration, and  will  take  up  with  a  pleasant  song  or  idle  tale 
sooner  than  he  will  with  the  institutes  of  his  own  salvation. 
And,  alas!  there  are  multitudes  who  cannot  read  what  is 
written,  and  come  not  to  hear  what  may  be  spoken;  so  that 
it  dispirits  me  while  I  write,  to  think  of  the  difficulties  which 
stand  before  my  way,  and  how  abler  men  have  endeavour- 
ed in  vain  to  beat  these  difficulties  down. 

But  while  the  Press  is  free  (which  may  it  for  ever  re- 
main! j  it  will  send  forth  its  host  of  intellectual  messengers, 


212  OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

as  evening  sendeth  forth  her  constellations  to  rule  over  the 
darkness  of  the  night.  And  as  astrology  believeth  of  the 
stars  which  con\e  forth  at  even-tide,  these  messengers  of  in- 
tellectual light  do,  without  a  fable,  shed  various  influence 
over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  man — some,  like  the  martial 
planet,  stirring  him  to  strife;  some  melting  him  to  tender 
love,  some  rousing  him  to  gay  and  jovial  moods,  and  some 
foredooming  him  to  the  saturnine  fates  of  melancholy  and 
misfortune.  Likewise,  as  in  the  starry  firmament  there  is  but 
one  blessed  light  which  hath  in  it  any  steady  guidance  to 
Ae  lost  wanderer  or  the  sea- faring  voyager,  so  amongst 
those  various  lights  in  the  firmament  of  mind,  there  is  but 
the  solitary  light  of  religion  which  hath  in  it  any  consola- 
tion or  direction  to  guide  the  soul  of  man-faring  through 
the  perilous  gulf  of  death  onward  to  eternity.  Therefore,  it 
seemeth  to  me,  that  from  the  Press  there  should  at  all  times 
issue  forth,  amidst  its  teeming  company,  some  forms  of  re- 
ligious truth,  to  guide  the  course  of  those  who  are  ever  in- 
fluenced by  its  novelties.  On  which  account,  though  we 
should  say  nothing  that  has  not  been  better  said  before,  we 
will,  out  of  regard  to  the  constant  appetite  of  the  age  for 
novelty,  and  out  of  pure  love  to  the  good  old  cause,  set  forth 
our  opinion. 

1  fancy,  that  if  the  Spirit  of  God  were  to  choose  out  twelve 
men  from  the  house  of  God,  with  whom  to  finish  the  great 
work  of  converting  men,  especially  the  men  of  this  country, 
and  for  that  purpose  were,  as  on  a  second  Pentecost,  to  be- 
stow upon  them  special  gifts,  the  gift  of  writing  powerfully 
would  be  a  chief  one.  For  the  press  hath  come  to  master 
the  pulpit  in  its  power;  and  to  be  able  to  write  powerful 
books,  seems  to  me  a  greater  accomplishment  of  a  soldier 
of  Christ,  than  to  be  able  to  preach  powerful  discourses. 
The  one  is  a  dart,  which,  though  well-directed,  may  fly 
wide  of  the  mark,  and  having  once  spent  its  strength  is  use- 
less for  ever; — the  other  is  the  ancient  catapulta,  which  will 
discharge  you  a  thousand  darts  at  once  in  a  thousand  differ- 
ent directions;  and  it  hath  an  apparatus  for  making  more 
darts,  so  that  it  can  continue  to  discharge  them  for  ever. 
To  use  this  most  powerful  of  intellectual  and  moral  instru- 
ments in  the  service  of  Christ  is  a  noble  ambition,  which 
should  possess  the  soul  of  every  Christian.  He  doth  in  a 
manner  multiply  his  soul  thereby,  and  give  to  his  ideal 
thoughts  a  habitation  and  a  n^me;  his  ethereal  spirit  he  doth 
in  a  way  condense  and  present, for  the  use  of  others,  as  they 
do  the  invisible  steam  of  liquors;  he  doth  rectify  it,  he  doth 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  21^ 

make  of  it  an  aqua-vitae^  au  elixir  of  life,  to  the  refreshing 
and  saving  ot  many  souls.  Therefore  1  do  not  hesitate  to 
confess,  that  in  this  essay  in  the  cause  of  Christ  upon  the 
field  ot  religious  literature,  I  feel  like  the  knight  that  breaks 
his  hrst  lance  in  the  cause  of  honour;  and  though  1  love  not 
the  tashion  of  modern  books,  conceiving  them  to  be  timid, 
cramped,  and  uncheerful,  with  little  of  the  freedom  and 
mellowness  of  the  olden  time,  still  for  the  sake  of  Him  whom 
I  heartily  serve,  1  will  venture  at  every  risk,  though  in  an 
unwonted  costume  of  language,  and  a  very  ungainly  style  of 
sentiment. 

•     1  o  go  on,  therefore,  with  my  purpose  of  seiving  my  Sa- 
viour by  a  printed  book,  I  call  the  attentibn  of  men  to  the 
way  in  which  they  hope  to  pass  the  solemn  tribunal,  and 
escape  the  wrath  to  come.  Various  are  the  shifts  to  which 
the  mind  hath  recourse  in  its  hopes.  But  all  hope  is  at  an 
end  when  taith  cometh  into  action,  which  is  the  substance 
of  thmgs  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen.  Now 
the  object  ot  faith  is  revelation,  which  revelation,  upon  the 
subject  of  judgment,  we  have  laid  down  at  length  in  the 
preceding  pages.  From  which,  if  any  one  now  fleeth  to  sail 
away  into  unrevealed  and  unknown  regions  of  hope,  then 
he  is  a  dreamer  whom  it  is  idle  to  argue  with.  For  revela- 
tion is  a  law  to  hope,  as  it  is  to  fear,  and  fixeth  bounds  be- 
yond which  they  cannot  pass;  and  he  who  believeth  revela- 
tion is  brought  under  the  power  of  its  truths  by  faith,  just 
as  he  who  beholds  the  outward  world  is  brought  under  the 
power  of  its  realities  by  sense.  So  that  it  were  just  as  ab- 
surd lor  a  man  who  sees  a  river  before  him,  to  hope  it  may 
be  dry  land,  and  so  plunge  into  it  and  be  drowned,  as  it  is 
for  a  man  who  sees  wrath  written  in  revelation  against  his 
way  of  life,  to  hope  it  may  not  be  wrath  but  forgiveness, 
and  so  rush  upon  the  bosses  of  the  Almighty's  buckler,  as 
the  wild  horse  rusheth  into  the  battle.   Revelation  is  the 
truth  of  things  unknown,  and  hath  to  the  future  the  same 
relation  which  experience  hath  to  the  past;  and  it  were  as 
absurd  to  believe  that  what  hath  happened  to  us  in  life  has 
not  been  so,  or  to  hope  it  has  not  been  so,  (if  that  form  of 
expression  may  be  allowed,)  as  it  is  to  hope  that  what  God 
hath  revealed  against  characters  of  our  stamp  will  not  hap- 
pen.  We  are  wont  to  repose  all  in  the  largeness  of  God's 
mercy;  but  revelation  is  a  rule  to  the  inhnitude  of  the  Al- 
mighty's attributes,  any  one  of  which  is  a  sea  to  swallow 
speculation  up,  were  it  not  for  the  shores  which  the  Al- 
mighty hath  himself  set  to  them  in  the  word  of  his  truth. 


274   ^  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

So  that  it  is  as  absurd  to  hope  that  his  justice  will  give  way 
when  it  comes  to  the  push  before  his  mercy,  and  leave  us 
in  safety,  though  doomed  by  justice  to  destruction,  as  it 
would  be  to  believe  that  his  justice  will  strengthen  itself 
and  sweep  all  before  it,  devouring  even  those  who  trusted 
in  Christ,  and  attached  themselves  to  his  cause.  Revelation 
is  a  stiff  and  rigid  thing,  like  stubborn  fact,  and  will  not  be 
disputed:  we  may  fancy  and  feign,  we  may  quibble  and 
dogmatize,  but  if  we  believe,  that  belief  plants  a  death- 
blow in  our  imaginings,  and  demolisheth  all  the  strong 
holds  of  our  sophistry.  If  revelation  have  propounded  an 
escape,  there  is  one;  if  it  have  not  propounded  an  escape 
from  judgment  and  wrath,  why  then  escape  there  is  none. 
There  is  only  one  position,  that  the  revelation  if  not  true 
is  a  fable,  is  a  lie  which  will  deliver  men  of  an  unchristian 
character  from  an  unchristian  destiny.  Those  who  hold  that 
position  may  hope  for  forgiveness,  and  trust  in  mercy  to 
what  extent  they  please,  for  they  are  sailing  in  a  sea  of 
darkness.  The  Deist  may  construct  a  god  after  his  own 
wishes,  to  quiet  his  fears  or  indulge  his  passion  or  license 
his  affections;  to  palliate  adultery,  murder,  every  vice  and 
crime,  as  the  ancient  heathens  did;  and  may  run  the  chance 
of  that  idol  of  imagination  holding  good  in  the  end.  But 
for  a  Believer  in  revealed  truth  to  do  the  same,  is  first  to 
give  his  belief  the  lie,  and  then  to  lanch  into  the  same  sea  of 
trust  which  the  Deist  doth.  These  Deists  are  always  shed- 
ding sneers  upon  the  Christian,  because  he  believes.  The 
Christian  doth  believe  what  he  hath  upon  good  evidence 
adopted.  But  what  doth  the  Deist  do?  He  believes  that  for 
which  he  hath  no  evidence  at  all;  he  takes  God  upon  the 
credit  of  his  own  crude  fancy,  he  rests  his  faith  upon  an 
invention  of  his  brain,  an  invention  framed  out  of  a  thou- 
sand incoherent  thoughts,  suggested  by  limited  and  erro- 
neous knowledge,  and  distorted  by  a  thousand  likings  and 
dislikings,  in  no  two  minds  alike.  This  creature,  more  de- 
formed than  sin,  and  more  changeable  than  Proteus,  the 
credulous  Deist  believes  to  be  the  living  and  true  God. 
And  if  the  man  will  be  mad  and  act  upon  his  dreams,  he 
can  take  the  folly  and  the  shame  that  will  come  of  such  fa- 
tuity. But  for  the  Christian  to  do  so,  who  believes  in  the 
God  of  revelation,  is  the  highest  pitch  of  crime  added  to 
an  equal  amount  of  folly,  and  is  not  once  to  be  endured. 
Hath  not  God  first  written  himself  upon  tables  of  stone, 
then  upon  the  countenance  of  his  everlasting  Son,  then  given 
varieties  of  the  same  in  the  renewed  lives  of  his  saints?  This 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  "         215 

believing,  we  would  erase  all,  and  write  him  with  the  ima- 
gination of  the  natural  mind,  which  knoweth  of  him  nothing 
at  all]  Which  is  to  dash  the  tables  of  stone  in  pieces,  to 
trample  under  foot  the  divinity  of  Christ,  to  give  the  lie  to 
all  his  disciples  who  have  evidenced  him  since,  to  give  the 
lie  to  our  own  avowed  belief,  and  do  a  thousand  other  incon- 
sistent and  wicked  things  which  it  is  tedious  to  mention. 

Therefore,  dismissing  speculation  upon  a  subject  on 
which  God  hath  written  unchangeable  oracles,  and  direct- 
ing the  flight  of  hope  with  the  hand  of  faith,  we  again  come 
to  the  question.  How  are  men  to  escape  Judgment  and  the 
wrath  to  come?  The  frightful  consequences  which  would 
ensue  if  God  were  to  relent  or  relax  the  letter  of  his  threat- 
enings,  not  to  this  earth  alone,  but  through  all  the  orders  of 
creatures,  whose  very  being  dependeth  upon  the  faithful 
word  of  his  mouth,  have  been  exhibited  in  various  parts  of 
this  discourse.  It  is  impossible,  it  were  a  lie,  that  God 
should  prescribe  a  constitution  like  that  we  have  portray- 
ed, and,  to  bring  us  up  to  its  performance  as  far  as  we  can 
be  brought  up,  devise  the  inventions  of  the  Gospel,  and  place 
us  under  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  only  after  all  to 
dissmuul  it  through  feebleness  of  execution,  and  suffer  such 
to  escape,  as  had  neither  listened  to  his  voice,  nor  revered 
his  statutes,  nor  minded  any  of  his  councils.  It  is  impossi- 
ble, it  were  a  lie,  that  God  should  delineate  a  form  of  ac- 
quittal, and  a  form  of  condemnation  so  exactly  adjusted  to 
the  constitution  which  he  had  given,  and,  having  promulga- 
ted the  same  to  men,  should  in  the  end  defeat  his  revealed 
purpose  through  flexibility  of  nature,  and  listen  at  the  bar 
to  those  who  listened  not  to  him  their  life  long,  and  addres- 
sed him  not,  save  in  words  of  execration  or  contempt.  It  is 
impossible,  it  were  a  lie,  that  God  should  open  up  and  am- 
ply unfold  a  paradise  of  life  into  which  nothing  enters  that 
defileth  or  maketh  a  lie,  where  is  no  disturbance  of  evil  nor 
sorrowful  fruit  of  sin;  that  he  should  also  open  up  and  am- 
ply unfold  a  furnace  of  hell,  into  which  evil  and  sin,  and 
death  and  the  grave,  and  unregenerate  sinners,  and  the  de- 
vil and  his  angels  were  to  be  thrown,  a  hellish  mixture,  to 
work  their  horrid  revelry  unpitied,  unbefriended,  unrepriev- 
ed  for  ever;  and  when  it  came  to  the  crisis  of  decision, 
should  shrink  and  misgive,  and,  unequal  to  the  execution, 
leave  men  unparted,  to  work  together  good  and  evil,  happi- 
ness and  misery,  hope  and  fear,  as  now  they  do.  It  is  vani- 
ty of  vanities  to  think  so,  a  wicked  pastime  of  the  brain,  a 
will  of  Satan's  to  rock  souls  into  securitv.  It  were  to  make 


276  OF   JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

God  an  egregious  liar,  a  cruel  tormentor,  who  scared  men's 
lives  with  fears,  or  buoyed  up  their  souls  with  expectations 
which  from  the  first  he  knew  himself  unable  to  fulfil. 

Therefore  I  hold  no  further  parley  with  these  dreams  o£ 
idle  brains,  but  return  to  the  question.  How  are  men  to  es- 
cape the  condemnation  and  wrath  to  come?  Seeing  the  whole 
bent  of  God's  revelation  is  to  work  holiness  in  the  hearts 
and  lives  of  men,  for  which  end  his  Son  died  to  cleanse  the 
conscience  from  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  hi?  Spirit  was  spread 
abroad  to  aid  and  abet  the  sanctification  of  men;  seeing  al- 
so, that  the  form  of  process  at  the  Judgment  is  nothing  but 
an  inquisition  into  the  godliness  of  life  and  Christian  affec- 
tion which  each  several  soul  hath  come  to; — it  is  manifest 
that  there  is  no  deliverance  from  condemnation  and  wrath 
to  come,  save  by  turning  with  all  our  hearts  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  those  fruits  of  holiness  which  are  to  be  taken  under 
review.  The  question  is.  By  what  means  shall  we  purify 
our  hearts,  and  overcome  the  ungodly  customs  of  the  world? 
which  having  discovered,  the  same  are  the  means  by  which 
we  shall  pass  the  judgment-seat  of  God,  and  escape  the  tri- 
bulation of  hell. 

There  is  an  assurance  of  acquittal  at  the  day  of  Judg- 
ment, which  it  is  possible  to  have  before  we  depart  out  of 
the  present  life;  for  it  is  written  in  the  Scriptures,  that 
"  there  is  no  condemnation  to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Je- 
sus, who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit." 
There  is  a  deliverance  from  this  body  of  sin  and  death, 
which  is  to  be  had  before  death  does  his  work  of  dissolu- 
tion; for  it  is  written  in  the  same  place,  *  the  law  of  the  Spi- 
rit of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the  law 
of  sin  and  death.'  There  is  a  death  and  crucifixion  of  the 
fleshly  or  natural  man,  which  takes  place  upon  the  genuine 
servant  of  Christ,  and  which  being  past,  delivers  him  from 
all  fear  of  eternal  and  spiritual  death;  as  St.  Paul  writes, '  I 
am  dead  to  the  law,  I  am  crucified  with  Christ.'  And  there 
ensues  a  new  life,  accompanied  with  the  assurance  of  its  be- 
ing everlasting,  as  St.  Paul  in  the  same  place  writes  ^  1  am 
crucified  with  Christ;  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I,  hut 
Christ  liveth  in  me:  and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the 
flesh  1  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me, 
and  gave  himself  for  me.' 

These  passages  introduce  to  us  one  of  the  great  myste- 
ries of  our  iaith;  which  it  is  necessary  to  draw  forth  into  a 
more  intelligible  form,  for  the  sake  of  this  age,  which  is 
much  more  mtcikctual  than  that  of  the  Apostles.     There 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  277 

are  amongst  men  various  kinds  of  natural  life,  of  which  the 
chief  are  these  three,  sensual  life,  moral  life,  and  intellec- 
tual life,  of  which  no  one  hath  any  virtue  or  continuance 
beyond  the  grave.  And  there  is  a  fourth,  spiritual  life, 
which  before  the  fall  was  man's  chief  distinction  and  de- 
light, but  now,  through  the  power  of  sin,  hath  been  stifled, 
and  had  continued  so  for  ever  but  for  the  revelation  of  the 
word  and  Spirit  of  Christ.  When  it  is  begotten  in  the  soul, 
It  is  called  a  new  birth;  and  when  it  magnifies  and  exalts 
itself  over  the  head  of  the  other  three,  the  old  man  is  said 
to  be  crucified  with  Christ,  and  the  new  man  to  be  created 
m  righteousness  and  true  holiness.  We  are  said  to  be  al- 
ready risen  with  Christ,  and  to  be  beyond  the  power  of  cor- 
ruption and  condemnation.  On  these  four  kinds  of  life  I 
shall  now  set  forth  my  thoughts,  and  discover  unto  men  the 
means  which  God  hath  appointed  for  engendering  the  new 
and  everlasting  life  within  the  soul. 

Of  sensual  life,  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak  at  length,  see- 
ing it  is  so  familiar  to  every  man,  having  been  at  some  time 
or  other  the  very  darling  of  his  heart.  It  consists  in  the 
delight  which  the  body  has  with  all  the  sensual  objects  of 
the  earth,  the  delights  of  touch  and  fleshly  intercourse,  the 
gratification  of  bodily  appetite,  the  relish  of  various  tastes, 
the  odours  of  smell,  the  melodies  of  sound,  and  the  glorious 
objects  of  vision.  This  life  of  flesh,  and  cultivation  of  the 
bodily  affections,  I  regard  as  the  lowest  of  all  things  to 
which  human  nature  can  be  addicted.  It  is  the  animal  ex- 
istence. The  brutes  have  it  in  common  with  men,  though 
not  in  such  variety.  Its  tendency  is  to  destroy  all  moral 
and  rational  life,  and  spiritual  life  cannot  breathe  in  its  pol- 
luted sphere.  Such  men,  of  whom  many  are  to  be  found 
in  this  age,  are  of  the  true  seed  of  the  Epicureans,  and  in- 
terpret the  fable  of  Circe's  cup,  which  transformed  men  into 
obscene  bestial  forms;  and  if  any  one  so  given  up  and  chang- 
ed out  of  his  manly  form  would  know  his  degradation,  or 
the  heights  of  virtue  whence  he  is  fallen,  he  may  see  it  re- 
presented in  that  most  classical  of  all  modern  poems,  the 
'  Comus'  of  Milton,  or  in  the  '  Castle  of  Indolence'  of 
Thomson,  which  aims  at  the  same  noble  end,  though  with 
unequal  steps.  But  if  they  would  be  raised  from  the  bed 
of  such  defiled  embraces  and  vile  enchantments,  they  must 
listen  to  the  great  disenchanter,  who  is  the  resurrection  and 
the  life,  in  whom  if  a  man  believe  he  shall  never  die. 

Oh!  it  afflicts  me  to  see  this  generation,  to  whom  I  write, 
merging  apace  into  this  inglorious  life.     It  hath  its  head- 

36 


2T8  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

quarter$  in  your  splendid  feasts  and  your  Park  parades,  in 
your  Vauxhall,  your  Operas,  and  your  Theatres.  It  is  very 
hateful  as  it  is  exhibited  in  cities,  where  it  is  stewed  up  in 
hot  quarters,  and  revels  away  the  hours  of  quiet  night,  and 
wastes  upon  feverish  couches  the  hours  of  cheerful  day.  In 
the  country  it  shows  itself  under  fairer  forms,  wandering 
from  stream  to  stream,  climbing  the  brow  of  lofty  moun- 
tains, seeking  love  in  cottages,  and  doting  over  the  face  and 
charms  of  transient  nature.  Ah!  in  this  shape  it  is  a  dan- 
gerous enchantment,  for  it  takes  the  form  of  taste  and  poe- 
try, and  even  affects  the  feeling  of  devotion;  but  unless  con- 
joined with  that  spiritual  life  whereof  I  am  to  discover  the 
sources,  it  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,  and  hurries  one 
through  an  exhausting  variety  to  the  lethargy  and  tedium 
of  overwrought  excitement.  This  is  the  form  of  sensual 
life,  which  is  prevailing  at  this  day  among  our  lettered  and 
reading  people.  It  hath  been  promoted  and  brought  into 
maturity  by  the  writings  of  Byron  and  of  Moore,  who  are 
high-priests  of  the  senses,  and  ministers  of  the  Cyprian 
goddess,  whose  temple  they  have  decorated  with  emblems 
of  gtnius,  and  disguised  with  forms  of  virtue  and  surround- 
ed with  scenes  of  balmy  freshness;  but  with  all  its  forms 
and  decorations  it  is  the  temple  of  immoral  pleasure,  and 
the  service  of  its  inward  shiine  is  disgusting  immorality, 
It  is  very  pitiful  to  behold  the  hopes  of  a  nation,  the  young 
men  and  young  women  who  are  to  bear  up  the  ancient  hon- 
ours of  this  godly  and  virtuous  island,  hearkening  to  the 
deceptions  of  such  enchanters,  who  being  themselves  be- 
guiled, would  fain  bewitch  the  intellectual  and  moral  and 
spiritual  being  of  others. 

Now,  with  regard  to  this  sensual  life  whereof  I  treat,  it 
cannot  once  look  to  live  beyond  the  grave,  for  death  makes 
terrible  differences,  and  disarrays  all  sensual  feasts;  the  body, 
the  pampered  lustful  body,  becomes  like  a  frozen  hot  bed, 
cold,  barren  and  withered;  and  the  world  we  doted  on  hav- 
ing forsaken  us  like  a  traitor,  all  the  schemes  of  future  dal- 
liance between  these  two  are  dissipated  like  a  mist,  they 
have  parted  asunder,  and  a  yawning  gulf  of  dark  immate- 
riality hath  come  between  these  ancient  friends.  They  shall 
meet,  yes,  they  shall  meet  again.  Matter  again  shall  invest 
the  spirit,  and  a  world  of'  matter  shall  arise  upon  her  trou- 
bled vision,  and  she  shall  eye  the  spiry  flames  and  the  dun 
smoke  of  hell;  and  she  shall  bathe  in  the  liquid  element  of 
fire,  and  snuff  up  the  fumes  of  her  sulphurous  bed,  and  at 
her  heart  a  worm  that  dieth  not  shall  gnaw.     Oh,  what  a 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  219 

change  was  that  of  the  luxurious  Dives!  and  what  an  answer 
to  his  complaint — Thou  in  thy  life  receivedst  thy  good 
things,  and  Lazarus  evil  things;  but  now  he  is  comforted, 
and  thou  art  tormented.  To  avoid  this  fell  conclusion,  these 
sensualists  wink  hard  on  death,  and  will  hold  no  commun- 
ings with  the  thoughts  of  death;  or,  if  they  pray  for  it  at 
all,  like  that  son  of  Genius  who  lately  met  his  fate  on  a 
foreign  shore,  they  pray  for  it  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
not  daring  to  encounter  the  reveries  and  quiet  reflections 
of  a  sick  bed.  Well,  I  pit}'  them  not  the  less  that  they  re- 
ject Christian  pity.  God  help  and  deliver  them  all!  God 
enable  me,  or  some  worthier  messenger,  to  reach  them  with 
the  tidings  of  spiritual  and  everlasting  life. 

Secondly,  Of  intellectual  or  rational  life.  This  is  an  ex- 
alted kind  of  existence,  to  which  true  men  in  all  ages  have 
betaken  themselves,  in  opposition  to  the  true  animals  I  have 
represented  above.  They  stand  like  towers  of  strength 
athwart  the  desolation  of  ages  that  hath  swept  over  the  re- 
putation of  the  rest;  their  names  are  like  the  ruins  of  ancient 
temples  and  palaces  in  a  desert  city,  where  a  level  bed  of 
sand  hath  hidden  in  darkness  all  meaner  places.  A  Homer, 
a  Socrates,  a  Plato,  an  Archimedes,  a  Newton,  these  are  the 
giants  of  the  soul,  the  plenipotentiaries  of  intellect,  who  re- 
deem the  reputation  of  the  human  race.  These  men  cared 
not  for  their  body,  but,  like  St.  Paul,  they  groaned  under 
it,  and  made  their  moan  in  the  ear  of  God,  who,  listening 
to  their  prayer,  gave  them  victory.  I'he  intellect  which  is 
weighed  down  with  a  fleshly  load  achieved  its  redemption, 
it  wandered  abroad  into  the  regions  of  the  handy-works  of 
God,  it  dived  into  the  mysteries  of  the  soul,  and  discoursed 
over  the  fields  of  wisdom,  inditing  matchltss  sayings,  and 
dressing  feasts  of  fancy  and  of  reason  for  all  ages  of  man- 
kind. They  are  the  royal  priesthood  of  mind,  sphered  above 
the  sphere  of  kings,  great  and  glorious  beyond  all  heroes 
and  conquerors  of  the  earth.  After  their  example  the  true 
men  amongst  mankind  have  strove,  setting  them  up  for  the 
apostles  of  their  high  calling.  And  in  this  island  we  have 
had  in  all  ages  a  succession  of  such  men,  who  have  collect- 
ed libraries  which  are  the  armories  of  intellect,  and  founded 
colleges  which  are  its  nurseries,  and  created  honours  which 
are  its  laurels,  the  honours  not  of  fortune  nor  of  power,  nor 
pride,  but  the  ideal  honours  of  a  name  or  title,  which  now 
they  have  frustrated  and  made  void  by  cheapening  them 
•lown  to  interest  and  place  and  vanity. 

I  cannot  find  in  my  heart  to  speak  against  intellect,  and, 


280  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

thanks  be  to  God,  1  am  not  called  by  my  Christian  calling 
to  speak  against  it.  It  is  a  hand-maiden  of  religion,  and 
religion  loveth  to  be  adorned  at  its  hands.  But  must  I  speak 
the  truth,  that  it  is  often  a  hand-maiden  of  other  mistresses 
with  whom  religion  hath  no  fellowship?  of  vanity,  of  power, 
of  carnal  pleasure,  and  of  filthy  lucre.  Go  to  the  seats  of 
learning,  which  intellect  decked  for  herself  with  chaste  and 
simple  ornaments,  where  she  dwelt  in  retirement  from  noise 
and  folly,  wooing  meditation  under  the  cool  shade,  or  forc- 
ing her  to  yield  her  hidden  secrets  to  midnight  research  and 
mortification,  what  find  you  generally  but  pomp  parading  it 
under  vain  apparel,  sense  rejoicing  over  feast  and  frolic, 
youth  doting  upon  outward  distinctions,  and  age  doting  on 
idle  and  luxurious  ease.  Such  are  a  sort  of  sacrilegious 
ministers  in  the  temple  of  intellect.  They  profane  its  shew- 
bread  to  pamper  the  palate,  its  everlasting  lamp  they  use  to 
light  unholy  fires  within  their  breast,  and  show  them  the 
way  to  the  sensual  chambers  of  sense  and  worldliness.  This 
is  the  intellectual  life  against  which  I  proclaim  that  it  will 
not  stand  before  the  throne  of  Judgment.  If  it  be  made  a 
passage  to  any  sublunary  glory,  to  places  in  court  or  senate, 
to  worldly  fortune,  to  the  applause  of  men  and  worldly  cele- 
bration, then  die  it  must  when  we  forsake  the  earth  wherein 
it  sought  its  treasure.  How  can  it  live,  how  can  it  live?  I 
ask,  in  the  name  of  God's  consistency.  The  fine  frame  of 
intellect  which  he  gave  to  constitute  for  man  a  crown  of 
glory,  and  feed  him  with  an  undisturbed  enjoyment,  he  hath 
trampled  under  foot — sold,  as  Esau  did,  his  birthright  for  a 
mess  of  meat,  or  bartered,  as  Judas  did,  the  life  of  Christ 
for  a  piece  of  money.  Can  such  abuse  of  God's  gift  abide 
his  judgment?  But,  not  content  with  abusing  that  which 
God  claimed  as  his  own  gift,  and  for  which  he  spread  out 
a  new  field  of  revelation  to  expatiate  on,  and  a  new  paradise 
in  the  hope  of  which  to  rejoice, — to  set  him  at  nought,  and 
lust  after  worldly  vanities,  what  can  this  look  for  but  to  be 
twice  condemned.'^  It  cannot  look  to  carry  the  world  it  doted 
upon  away  with  it  into  the  spiritual  world — the  world  stays 
behind  to  play  with  other  fools;  it  hath  its  dwelling  in  re- 
mote solitary  regions.  Or  will  God  play  the  liar,  and  build 
aiiother  world  for  its  sake,  instead  of  that  promised  world 
which  it  would  not  hear  or  take  a  thought  of?  It  is  vanity 
to  entertain  any  such  imagination. 

Now,  let  religious  people  blame  me  or  not,  I  will  declare, 
for  1  have  sat  down  to  express  all  my  thoughts  freely  and 
fearlessly  upon  Judgment  to  Come-— that  if  intellect,  fore- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME  281 

going  these  worldly  prizes,  will  for  itself  cultivate  itself, 
and  guard  against  self- idolatry,  it  will  come  by  a  natural 
course  to  speculate  upon  the  invisible  God,  like  Plato  and 
Socrates  in  the  days  of  old,  and  the  Bible  will  come  to  its 
hungering  and  thirsting  after  divine  knowledge,  like  a  streanfi 
of  water  to  the  thirsty  hart  in  a  parched  land;  and  it  will 
rear  its  house  by  the  clear  margent  of  the  waters  of  life,  and 
therein  dwell  till  God  do  separate  it  into  his  nearer  neigh- 
bourhood and  closer  fellowship.  Such  intellectual  examina- 
tions brought  Locke  and  Newton,  after  they  had  exhausted 
the  faculties  of  the  mind  in  research,  to  lay  them  down  at 
length,  and  drink  refreshment  from  the  river  of  the  Lord's 
revelations,  and  there  to  devote  the  whole  enjoyment  of  their 
souls.  But  such  intellectual  creatures  as  find  their  beloved 
field  in  mere  physical  research,  contented  with  any  new 
thing  in  nature  or  in  art,  that  is,  you  mere  naturalists,  often 
the  weakest  and  idlest  of  men;  such  others  as  are  satisfied 
with  the  speculations  of  politics,  and  have  their  feast  in 
the  triumphs  of  a  party,  or  in  being  themselves  the  lea- 
ders of  a  party;  or  such  others  who  gape  with  open  mouth 
for  whatever  the  daily  press  may  serve  them  withal,  devour- 
ing with  equal  relish  novels,  poems,  news,  and  criticism, 
and  so  they  can  hold  discourse  about  such  wrecks,  which 
ever  float  upon  the  edge  of  oblivion's  gulf,  think  they  have 
purchased  to  themselves  a  good  degree  in  intellect.  Oh! 
what  shall  I  say  to  such?  Why  should  it  have  fallen  to  my 
lot  to  rebuke  such  a  generation?  or  to  what  shall  1  liken 
them?  They  are  like  the  spectators  in  a  theatre,  who  look 
upon  the  stage,  and  behold  its  changing  aspect,  and  listen 
to  its  various  speeches,  who  have  as  good  a  right  to  claim 
the  merit  of  being  good  players  because  they  look  upon  the 
players,  or  to  understand  the  mystery  of  the  scenery,  be- 
cause they  see  the  changes  of  the  scene,  or  to  be  men  of 
genius  because  they  listen  to  a  drama  of  genius, — as  have 
that  reading  and  talking  generation  to  claim  any  place  or 
degree  in  the  world  of  intellect  because  they  read  and  re- 
tail to  each  other  what  is  constantly  teeming  from  the 
press.  Not  that  I  would  undervalue  such  an  employment  as 
perusing  what  the  mind  of  man  is  continually  producing, 
but  that  I  would  estimate  the  value  and  duration  of  that 
sentimental  life  in  which  so  many  pride  themselves.  And  I 
estimate  it  as  a  mere  game  or  pastime  of  the  faculties,  a 
dissipation  of  the  eye  of  the  mind,  producing  upon  the  in- 
tellectual man  the  same  eifects  which  are  produced  upon  the 
sensual  man  by  the  dissipation  of  his  eye  among  the  various 


282  OF  JUDGMENT   TO   COME. 

scenes  and  curiosities  of  the  world.  This  sort  of  life  also 
must  pass  away  at  death,  for  its  food  will  then  be  at  an  end^ 
and  its  excitement  at  an  end;  and  in  the  spiritual  and  eter- 
nal world,  with  which  it  held  no  communion,  it  can  expect 
to  find  no  enjoyment,  unless  God,  as  hath  been  said,  for  the 
sake  of  those  that  never  cried  him  mercy  or  obeyed  any 
word,  should  make  himself  an  egregious  liar. 

Thirdly,  Of  moral  life.  This  is  a  still  higher  reach  of 
human  nature  than  that  which  is  mentioned  above,  for  it 
consists  not  in  the  speculation  and  discovery  of  truth,  but 
in  living  after  the  rules  and  measures  of  truth.  It  is  a  sacri- 
fice of  the  heart  in  ob«rdience  to  the  understanding,  a  con- 
formity of  the  will  to  the  deliberations  of  reason,  and  great- 
ly to  be  praised  wherever  it  is  found;  and  though  it  reach- 
eth  not  into  the  regions  of  life  spiritual,  it  is  far  above  the 
regions  of  life  sensual  and  life  intellecttial,  which  leads  me 
often  to  wonder  by  what  strange  perversion  of  their  office 
we  advocates  of  spiritual  life  are  often  found  railing  against 
this  its  nearest  resemblance.  For,  moral  life  is  not  shunned 
by  spiritual  life,  but  embraced  like  a  younger,  tenderer  sis- 
ter. By  religion  morals  are  sustained,  enlarged,  purified, 
sanctified,  and  eternally  rewarded.  And  in  thuse  parts  where 
there  is  no  speaking  word  or  breathing  spirit  to  awaken  spi- 
ritual life,  God  will  hold  the  people  responsible  for  nothing 
more  than  moral  life.  But  in  those  countries  where  the 
means  for  enkindling  spiritual  life  is  every  man's  possession, 
and  its  saving  uses  known  to  him,  he  cannot  be  guiltless  for 
withholding  from  using  them,  or  desiring  to  possess  the  new 
virtue  which  they  breathe.  Moral  men  are  therefore  not 
excusable  for  refusing  to  enter  into  communion  with  God, 
and  enrolling  themselves  under  the  banner  of  Christ,  who  is 
the  great  teacher  of  pure  morals,  the  great  martyr  in  their 
behalf,  and  their  great  rewarder.  And  though  1  would  speak 
to  them^  i-n- soft  and  gracious  language,  yet  to  them  no  less 
than  to  others  the  truth  must  be  spoken,  that  this  life  of 
theirs  hath  its  limitation  at  the  grave.  There  they  put  its 
limitations  of  their  own  free  will.  They  will  not  have  it  ex- 
tended to  eternity — else  why  do  they  refuse  to  devote  them- 
selves to  God  no  less  than  to  the  well-being  of  their  own 
souls  and  of  mankind!  It  indicates  in  them  a  want  of  that 
subordination  which  every  creature  oweth  to  its  Creator,  a 
want  of  reverence  for  his  voice,  a  deadness  to  his  admoni- 
tions, and  a  dislike  to  his  obedience,  thus  to  labour,  as  mere 
moralists  do,  without  attending  to  his  word  or  to  the  ministry 
of  his  Son.  It  is  not  that  God  loves  to  have  good  done  only 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  283 

in  his  own  way,  but  he  wishes  to  have  it  done  as  extensive- 
ly as  possible:  and,  being  alive  to  the  weakness  of  motives 
merely  moral,  he  addressed  us  with  spiritual  considerations, 
that  not  only  the  well-disposed  and  the  naturally -benevo- 
lent, but  that  all  may  derive  a  strength  to  follow  a  moral  and 
benevolent  coifrse.  And  for  any  one  to  stand  in  his  own 
strength,  and  refuse  the  sustenance  of  the  hand  that  made 
him;  to  stand  still  at  that  point  in  which  his  natural  consti- 
tution hath  placed  him;  is,  to  my  thought,  a  very  great  con- 
tempt of  God,  a  monstrous  rebellion  from  our  proper  Head, 
and  a  lawless  insurrection  against  his  sovereignty.  And  such 
conduct  can  look  for  no  better  treatment  than  to  pay  the  pe- 
nalty of  unrepented  sin  and  unforsaken  wickedness,  which 
is  sorrow  and  death. 

Men  are  constituted  in  various  moulds,  and  the  fashion 
of  their  inward  man  is  as  various  as  their  natural  face  or 
outward  condition.  Some  are  weak  in  reason,  and  some  are 
strong;  some  are  weak  in  passion,  and  some  are  strong; 
some  are  open  and  enlarged  of  heart,  some  narrow  and  con- 
fined. In  some,  mercy  hath  a  sovereign  seat;  in  others,  jus- 
tice; in  others,  avarice;  in  others,  benevolence;  in  others,  sel- 
fishness; and,  in  others,  cruelty.  And  though  they  had  been 
made  in  one  common  mould,  the  various  aspects  of  the  phy- 
sical and  moral  world  would  have  wrought  them  into  vari- 
ous tempers.  Some  inhabit  the  peaceful  country,  nursed 
amidst  health  and  simplicity;  others  the  crowded  city,  J^rey- 
ed  on  by  disease  and  vice;  some  planted  in  posts  of  terrible 
danger,  others  of  ease  and  safety;  some  brought  up  under 
favourable  aspects  of  piety,  friendship,  instruction  and  ex- 
ample; other^  orphans,  outcast  and  ignorant.  And  then  there 
is  the  diversity  of  times  and  seasons;  some  born  and  cradled 
in  revolutions,  and  cast  into  the  iron  age  of  war;  some  un- 
der the  olive  reign  of  peace;  some  under  superstition  and 
tyranny,  others  under  freedom;  some  under  the  eye  and 
light  of  knowledge,  others  under  darkness  and  the  shadow 
of  death.  Hence  it  Cometh  to  pass,  that  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands,  and  millions  of  a  generation,  are  never  able  to 
extricate  themselves  out  of  their  dark  and  pitiful  conditions 
into  the  intellectual  and  moral  condition  upon  which  we  have 
bestowed  our  praise,  but  continue  dead  and  sensual,  in  a 
miserable  and  pitiful  plight,  which  makes  the  heart  weep 
tears  of  blood. 

Therefore,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  it  pleased  the  Lord  to 
make  known  another  kind  of  life,  differing  from  all  the  rest, 
which  might  be  within  the  reach  of  all  forms  and  conditions 


284  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

of  manhood,  of  every  kindred  and  nation  and  tongue.  This 
is  spiritual  life,  of  which  the  essential  characteristic  is  to 
walk  with  God,  as  it  is  the  characteristic  of  all  the  rest  to 
walk  without  him-  Human  nature  hath  lost  the  secret  of  its 
Creator,  and  of  the  end  for  which  it  was  created;  and  among 
the  various tnventions  of  superstition,  no  people  have  by  any 
chance  stumbled  upon  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God.  There 
is  nothing  within  the  region  of  absurdity  and  untruth  which 
the  popular  creed  hath  not  adopted,  this  only  being  except- 
ed, the  living  God,  who  made  heaven  and  earth  and  all  that 
dwelleth  therein.  The  intellectual  man,  when  putting  forth 
his  utmost  power,  in  the  absence  of  the  sensual  and  the  pre- 
sence of  the  moral  man,  did  in  ancient  times  make  wonder- 
ful reaches  into  the  arcana  of  the  divine  existence,  but  had 
no  power  to  bring  his  discoveries  home  to  the  mechanical, 
unspeculative   people,  whose   superstitions   he   was  fain  to 
countenance,  under  the  painful  conviction,  that  nothing  more 
refined  could  consist  with  their  sensual,  unintellectual  modes 
of  life.  He  had  the  plant,  but  he  could  not  propagate  it  in 
the  common  soil.  It  would  not  root.  The  knowledge  of  the 
one  God  would  not  root;  if  it  had  it  would  have  borne  fruit. 
But  now  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  hath   been  re- 
vealed, not  as   the  conclusion  of  difficult  investigation  and 
research,   but   by  description   and   delineation,  as   one  man 
describes  his  fellow  man.     The  attributes  of  his  character 
are  developed  in  his  word;  his  works  are   made  known,  his 
providential  care  over  the  earth,  his  dispensation  of  grace 
for  the  recovery  of  man,  his   whole  nature  is  revealed  in 
manifest   light,   and  presented   before  the  human   mind  to 
work  its  proper  effect.  Now,  though  few  men  be  acquaint- 
ed with  the  historical  evidence  which  authenticates  this  re- 
cord of  Jehovah,  there  are  very  few  who  can  shut  their  eyes 
to  the  excellency  of  the  divine   nature   there  recorded,  or 
hinder  it  from  pleasing  the  faculties  of  their  mind.     They 
may  not  know  the  painter,  or  understand  the  sources  of  his 
information,  but  the  picture  is  such  as  they  cannot  hinder 
their  eyes  from  admiring.     The  character  of  God,  contain- 
ed in  the  Scriptures,  is  to  the  mind  of  the  common  people 
what,  to  illustrate  great  things  by  small,  the  Apollo  Belvi- 
dere,  or  any  other  ancient  statue  is  to  the  eye  of  the  com- 
mon people.  There  is  a  rushing  conviction  of  its  perfectness. 
It  fixeth  in  the  mind.     It  rules  in  the  mind  over  all  meaner 
forms.  It  is  the  model  of  all  form,  and  that  which  we  could 
wish  to  resemble.     I  am  bold  to  say,  there  is  in  the  minds 
of  men  those  moral  tastes  which  make  the  God  of  the  Chris- 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  2S5 

tians,  when  he  hath  been  comprehended,  to  take  a  root  in 
the  conviction  and  admiration,  as  the  most  perfect  model  of 
character,  the  sublime  of  moral  nature.  They  cannot  help 
themselves  from  standing  in  awe  of  the  omnipotent,  omnis- 
cient. Almighty  Holy  One  who  inhabiteth  the  praises  of 
eternity.  And  into  this  instinct  of  human  nature  I  resolve 
the  first  and  earliest  power  which  the  Gospel  hath  over  men, 
and  here  I  place  the  first  germ  of  the  spiritual  life. 

Now,  this  universal  instinct  to  admire  the  perfect  attri- 
butes of  our  God  doth  supersede  at  once  the  distinctions  of 
intellectual  and  unintellectual,  civilized  and  uncivilized,  and 
make  the  whole  human  race  alike  impressible  by  it,  as  they 
are  alike  impressible  by  justice,  benevolence,  or  power.  And 
accordingly  it  is  found  to  be  so  in  all  stages  and  conditions 
of  man  to  which  the  missionary  addresses  himself.  He  may 
be  resisted  by  false  notions  of  God,  which,  like  artificial 
tastes,  are  supported  by  the  pride  of  antiquity  and  the 
shame  of  change,  as  he  is  among  the  Brahmins  and  the  Ma- 
homedans,  where  the  vicious  notion  is  defended  by  all  the 
interests  of  society;  but  whenever  he  meets  with  a  nation 
not  already  duped  and  deluded,  no  matter  how  degraded, 
be  they  Hottentots,  Africans,  or  Greenlanders,  he  never 
fails  to  bring  them  under  awe  and  reverence  of  the  God 
whom  he  declareth.  But  though  in  the  general  we  take  this 
acceptableness  of  our  God  to  human  nature  to  be  the  first 
rudiment  of  the  spiritual  man,  we  give  the  chief  influence 
to  that  part  of  his  nature  which  is  revealed  in  the  redemp- 
tion  and  salvation  of  the  world.  The  attributes  of  the  Al- 
mighty and  all- wise  Creator  overawe  the  aflPection,  and,  be- 
ing coupled  with  those  of  the  beholder  and  the  Judge,  they 
strike  a  damp  and  mute  terror,  which  stupifies  and  alienates 
the  mind.  And  no  cordial  union  of  affection  with  the  God- 
head, no  constant  love  of  intercommunion,  or  desire  of  neigh- 
bourhood and  likeness  ariseth  until  we  are  brought  nigh  and 
reconciled  by  the  manifestation  of  the  Son  upon  our  account. 
Then,  fear  disperseth  and  hope  awakeneth  from  the  dead, 
and  with  hope  comes  joy,  and  with  joy  comes  affection,  and 
the  mind  is  lifted  into  the  condition  of  thinking  and  speaks 
ing  and  communicating  with  God.  The  darkness,  and  the 
thick  darkness  which  covered  the  mind,  is  not  only  remov- 
ed by  the  light  of  revelation,  but  the  light  which  was  unap- 
proachable and  full  of  glory  is  made  accessible  and  full  of 
balmy  health.  But  on  the  influence  of  God  the  Saviour  we 
need  not  enlarge,  having  developed  it  fully  in  the  third  part 
of  this  argument. 

57 


286  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

Then,  after  we  have  been  brought  into  peace  and  hope 
by  the  revelation  of  God  the  Saviour,  we  are  brought  into 
practical  confidence  and  constant  communion  by  the  revela- 
tion of  God  the  sanctifier.  The  fall  brought  on  the  obscura- 
tion of  our  being,  and  under  that  obscuration  a  thousand 
evils  crept  in  upon  the  soul;  Christ  doth  take  the  obscura- 
tion off,  and  arise  upon  our  spiritual  darkness  like  the  sun 
of  righteousness,  but  there  wanteth  some  one  to  dispossess, 
one  by  one,  the  evils  which  have  the  dominion  over  us. 
This  is  done  by  the  revelation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  or  God 
the  Sanctifier.  Christ  doth  undo  what  the  fall  did,  he  doth 
disarm  the  powers  of  darkness,  and  turn  the  tide  of  evil 
which  set  against  us;  or,  in  Scriptural  figure,  he  is  begotten 
in  us  the  hope  of  glory;  but  to  tend  the  new  birth  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  revealed,  who  doth,  like  a  watchful  nurse,  rear  the 
infant  spiritual  creature,  and  defend  it  from  the  powers  of 
darkness,  which  ever  take  counsel  against  its  life.  This  as- 
surance of  divine  help  at  hand  begetteth  prayer  and  activi- 
ty and  devout  dependence  upon  God.  It  also  instructeth  us 
in  our  weakness,  and  leadeth  us  to  observe  the  dangers 
which  surround  us,  and  to  perceive  all  the  positions  and  in- 
trenchments  which  the  enemy  hath,  in  the  forms  and  cus- 
toms of  human  life,  and  in  the  affections  of  the  soul  within. 
A  constant  watchfulness,  a  constant  frame  of  prayer,  activi- 
ty of  well-doing,  and  a  constant  communion  with  God,  take 
place  within  the  soul,  instead  of  that  distance  and  alienation 
which  is  its  natural  estate. 

All  this  I  trace  to  the  revelation  which  God  hath  given 
of  himself  in  his  holy  word,  and  being  addressed  to  parts 
and  properties  of  human  nature  which  are  common  to  the 
minds  of  all  men,  as  eyes  and  ears  and  hands  are  common 
to  their  outward  frame,  it  doth  affect  them  all  alike,  and 
produce  every  where  that  spiritual  life  of  which  I  stated 
the  great  characteristic  to  consist  in  walking  with  God.  The 
nature  of  God  becomes  spread  over  every  thing  natural  and 
moral,  outward  and  inward,  as  light  is  spread  over  the 
earth.  We  are  reminded  of  him  always,  and  never  at  a  dis- 
tance from  him;  we  live  in  him,  we  move  in  him,  and  in  him 
we  have  our  being.  He  is  incorporated  with  all  we  admire 
and  love  and  wish  for;  he  is  the  soul  of  our  ambition,  and 
the  spirit  of  our  joy.  We  hate  what  he  hates,  and  what  he 
pities  we  endeavour  to  help;  the  charities  of  his  nature  we 
copy,  his  works  we  imitate,  his  thoughts  we  meditate,  his 
ways  we  strive  to  pursue.  We  are  in  God  new  creatures, 
^  we  are  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  we  are  members  of 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  2S1 

Christ,  we  suffer  with  him,  we  are  crucified  with  him,  we 
are  risen  with  him  to  newness  of  life,  we  walk  with  him, 
and  there  remaineth  unto  us  no  condemnation  or  wrath  to 
come. 

It  is  not  possible  to  mistake  this  life,  of  which  I  treat, 
from  sensual  or  intellectual  or  moral  life,  for  it  is  distin- 
guished in  every  action  by  being  a  life  in  God,  that  is,  in 
reference  to  God's  will,  in  dependence  upon  God's  grace, 
in  hope  of  God's  forgiveness,  and  in  pursuit  of  God's  fa- 
vour,—-whereas  all  the  other  are  distinguished  in  every  ac- 
tion by  being  a  life  out  of  God;  in  the  first  case,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  sense,  and  to  gratify  sense;  in  the  second  case, 
at  the  instigation  of  intellect,  and  to  discover  the  relations 
of  truth,  and  to  utter  them,  for  the  entertainment  of  our- 
selves and  others;  in  the  third  case,  to  please  the  moral 
sense,  and  benefit  the  condition  of  men,  and  enjoy  the  re- 
wards of  a  well-regulated  and  benevolent  mind,  but  in  not 
one  of  the  three  to  please  the  divine  Being,  and  advance  his 
honour  and  glory  upon  earth.  I  am  aware  that  there  is  a 
moral  life  and  an  intellectual  life  also,  which  do  not  keep 
the  Deity  out  of  sight,  the  one  using  his  moral  rules,  the 
other  speculating  of  his  nature  and  revelations;  and,  in  as 
far  as  they  do  so,  they  are  to  be  approved;  but  they  do  not 
pass  into  spiritual  life,  until  he  becomes  not  the  part  but  the 
whole  of  our  desire,  to  whom  we  dedicate  all  our  powers  of 
action;  and  until  we  are  alive  to  the  natural  alienation  and 
unwillingness  of  our  minds,  and  find  reconciliation  and  fa- 
vour and  new  life  through  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  After  which  resurrection  old  things  pass  away,  and 
our  former  communion  with  God  turns  out  to  have  been 
no  more  than  a  name  to  live,  or  a  shadow  of  the  thing  which 
we  now  possess. 

Nevertheless,  while  I  thus  endeavour  to  keep  the  marches 
clear  between  spiritual  life  and  the  other  three,  I  am  not  to 
set  forth  the  death  of  the  sensual,  intellectual,  and  moral 
man,  as  necessary  to  the  life  of  the  spiritual  man.  They 
need  to  be  put  to  death  in  as  far  as  they  are  supreme  over 
us.  In  their  mastery  they  are  unmastered,  but  not  in  their 
existence  extinguished.  Their  alienation  to  God  is  destroy- 
ed, but  their  action  is  not  forbidden.  They  are  turned  to  his 
service,  brought  and  laid  upon  his  altar,  there  sanctified, 
thence  taken,  and  ever  after  consecrated  to  his  glory.  And 
the  eye  continues  to  regale  itself  with  the  vision  of  natural 
scenery,  and  to  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness  to  the  chil- 
dren of  men;  and  the  ear  tastes  the  dulcet  voice  of  melody 


2SS  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

made  in  her  Maker's  praise;  and  love  and  elegance  and  taste, 
and  stately  mansions  and  adorned  fields  and  flowery  gar- 
dens, and  feast  and  mirth,  and  every  other  decoration  of  life, 
are  enjoyed  by  the  spiritual  man  with  a  new  relish,  because 
he  is  spiritual.  And  now  he  layeth  on  every  faculty  of  his 
mind  in  the  full  scent  of  truth,  for  he  would  write  his  Ma- 
ker's glory  with  the  sun  beams  of  science,  and  draw  forth 
his  praise  from  the  regions  of  knowledge.  And  now  he  gra- 
tifies his  moral  nature  with  a  license  never  before  enjoyed. 
He  finds  its  food  in  every  relation  and  every  occupation  of 
life,  and  becomes  a  light  to  the  blind,  a  help  to  the  needy, 
a  defence  to  the  orphan  and  fatherless  and  unbefriended,  a 
blessing  unto  all.  And  whereas  the  Great  Spirit,  whom  he 
would  now  resemble,  is  unwearied  in  creating  enjoyments 
for  physical  and  sensual  nature — he  never  ceases  to  take 
them  with  a  thankful  and  ^joyful  mind;  and  whereas  the 
Great  Spirit  is  a  very  fountain  of  intelligence,  who  hath 
made  depths  of  knowledge  for  us  to  fathom  and  heights  of 
understanding  for  us  to  reach — he  ever  stri^eth  to  know 
and  search  out  the  deep  things  of  God;  and  whereas  the 
Gieat  Spirit  he  would  resemble  is  unwearied  in  doing  good 
to  every  creature  out  of  his  ample  storehouse — he  travels 
in  his  footsteps,  and  out  of  the  storehouse  given  to  him, 
does  the  same  unwearied  office  of  well-doing  to  all  within 
his  reach. 

For,  truly,  I  abominate  the  spirit  of  ascetic  and  ignorant 
devotion,  which  to  make  men  spiritual  would  deprive  them 
of  the  recreations  of  sense,  and  spoil  them  of  the  high  pur- 
suits of  intellect;  would  make  them  crouch  every  noble  part 
of  manhood,  disguise  every  high  propensity  of  nature, 
school  into  slavishness  every  ardent  imagination,  and  bind 
in  shackles  every  high  adventure;  in  order  to  present 'unto 
God  a  minced  and  emasculated  pigmy  of  that  creature  which 
he  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  and  a  fraction  of 
those  talents  which  he  made  able  to  scan  the  highest  hea- 
vens.    Away  with  the  notion  to  the  cells  of  monks  and  the 

grates  of  mins  and  the  caves  of  hermits it  is  not  for  the 

honour  of  man,  nor  for  the  glory  of  God.  Spiritual  life  is 
that  which  pervades  every  thing  with  a  divine  vigour — stir- 
ring up  and  awakening  lethargic  faculties,  calling  in  roving 
and  wicked  thoughts,  husbanding  time,  enlightening  con- 
science, piloting  all  the  courses,  filling  all  the  sails  of  action; 
that  we  may  make  a  demonstration  for  God  ten  times  great- 
er than  the  demonstration  we  were  making  for  sense,  for 
intellect,  or  for  morals. 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  289 

Now  this  spiritual  life,  you  will  observe,  is  the  life  of 
God  within  the  soul;  it  is  a  return  of  all  the  faculties  to  his 
neighbourhood  and  communion,  from  that  distance  to  which 
they  were  banished  at  the  fall.  And  to  one  so  created  anew 
in  the  image  of  God,  the  curse  is  altogether  taken  off.  For 
the  curse  consisted  in  the  death  of  the  body  to  sensible 
things,  and  the  death  of  the  spirit  to  things  spiritual  and  di- 
vine. Now,  though  the  body  is  not  made  immortal,  yet  it  is 
assured  of  immortality  by  Christ's  resurrection,  which  is 
the  evidence  of  its  own  immortality,  first  fruits  of  them  that 
sleep.  And  the  other  part  of  the  curse,  the  death  of  the 
soul  to  perceptions  of  God  and  works  of  godliness,  is  taken 
off,  for  the  soul  hath  been  made  instinct  with  a  constant  di- 
vinity of  thought,  and  discharges  all  its  functions  as  in 
the  presence  of  God.  So  that  the  whole  curse  is  in  effect 
taken  off.  We  are  restored  to  our  heritage  of  life,  and  there 
remaineth  for  us  no  second  condemnation. 

This  may  seem  mysterious,  but  it  is  the  most  beautiful 
and  the  most  true  of  all  mysteries,  and  it  is  the  key  to  all 
the  writings  of  St.  Paul.  I  wish  my  time  did  permit  me  to 
illustrate  it  at  length,  but  I  rather  turn  to  the  practical  ob- 
ject of  endeavouring  to  stir  you  up  to  the  attainment  of  this 
spiritual  life,  by  this  awful  consideration,  that  under  the 
Christian  dispensation  none,  in  whom  this  new  birth  and  re- 
generation have  not  been  wrought,  can  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  I  have  shown  how  sensual  life  must  be  cut 
off  by  death;  but  spiritual  life  hath  in  its  very  constitution 
an  eternity.  It  consulteth  not  for  the  flesh  which  is  mortal, 
nor  for  the  world  which  is  transient,  nor  for  the  approbation 
of  men  who  decline  like  a  shadow,  but  for  the  approbation 
of  God  alone  who  is  eternal.  Its  aspirations  are  to  heaven 
which  changeth  not;  its  treasures  are  in  heaven  where  no- 
thing corrupteth.  Its  faith  is  in  Christ,  the  same  yesterday, 
to  day,  and  forever;  its  communion  is  with  the  Spirit  which 
abideth  for  evermore.  The  whole  elements  of  its  existence 
are  eternal,  and  wherever  this  new  man  is,  there  is  also  the 
undivided  assurance  of  life  eternal. 

These  forms  of  carnal  life,  (which  are  every  one  distin- 
guished by  their  preference  of  some  of  creation's  forms,  or 
nature's  enjoyments,  to  the  neglect  and  forgetfulness  of  God 
who  created  the  world,  and  enriched  the  heart  with  its  va- 
ried capacities  of  pleasure,)  do  all  lead  unto  condemnation, 
and  the  glory  of  them  all  closes  with  present  existence;  but 
the  spiritual  life,  which  consults  for  the  honour  and  glory  of 
God  and  his  Church,  will  stand  in  judgment,  and  receive 


290  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

the  reward  of  its  self-denial  and  faithfulness.  '  To  be  car- 
nally minded  is  death;  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and 
peace.' 

Now,  finally,  as  this  spiritual  character  is  essential  unto 
salvation  from  the  wrath  to  come,  I  hold  myself  called  upon 
to  open  up  the  channels  through  which  it  flows  into  the  soul, 
and  the  mighty  operation  by  which  it  is  begotten.  In  doing 
which  office  for  the  sake  of  immortal  souls,  I  think  it  first 
necessary,  to  declare  and  avow,  that  nature  hath  in  herself 
no  strength,  nor  the  wisdom  of  the  world  any  guidance  for 
that  spiritual  course  of  life  whereof  I  am  to  disclose  the  pure 
fountains.  Nature  unassisted  and  the  world  unsubdued  are 
its  greatest  enemies;  and  if  you  expect  to  carry  any  one 
point  in  it  by  ordinary  resources  of  knowledge,  or  by  ordi- 
nary force  of  resolution,  you  will  labour  in  vain  to  the  end 
of  your  days,  and  die  worse  than  you  began.  This  may  ap- 
pear wild  and  mystical  to  those  who  have  not  Studied  or 
tried  the  regeneration  of  life  and  character  which  Christ  re- 
quires, but  it  is  in  perfect  unison  with  the  nature  of  man. 
I  allow  to  nature  all  her  powers,  and  to  the  world  ail  her  ac- 
complishments of  grace  and  honour,  and  freely  yield  to  them 
the  credit  of  being  able  of  their  ownselves,  unaided  by  God, 
to  bring  forth  all  the  specimens  of  philosophic,  intellectual, 
moral,  and  patriotic  men,  whereof  ancient  and  modern  times 
can  boast.  The  greater  part  of  those  noble  characters,  in 
peace  and  war,  which  fill  the  pages  of  history;  the  greater 
part  of  those  who  flourish  under  the  eye  and  patronage  of 
honour  and  glory  in  our  own  times,  your  statesmen,  your 
scholars,  your  uncorrupted  senators,  your  generous  philan- 
thropists, are  the  offspring  of  cultivated  powers  of  nature 
and  favourable  aspects  of  the  world;  and  when  I  resign 
these  excdlent  shows  of  character  up  to  the  province  of  gift- 
ed nature  and  happy  fortune,  it  will  be  seen  that  I  mean  not 
to  disparage  the  powers  of  natural  life,  while,  I  say  again, 
that  they  avail  not  the  least,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  impede 
in  producing  the  spiritual  life,  which  is  indispensible  to  sal- 
vation. It  is  not  to  disparage  nature  and  the  world  that  I 
preface  my  inquiry  with  this  avowal  of  their  weakness,  but 
it  is  to  withdraw  the  mind  from  these  delusory  regions  of 
power  and  wisdom,  to  the  proper  region,  whence  alone  are 
to  be  had  that  power  and  wisdom  which  furnish  the  spiri- 
tual man  for  every  good  word  and  work. 

Had  the  Almighty  kept  aloof  from  all  interference  in  our 
affairs,  and  given  no  supplement  to  our  knowledge,  or  lent 
no  aid  to  our  endeavours,  then  is  it  not  manifest  that  our 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  S91 

theology  would  have  been  what  it  was  in  Greece  or  Rome 
or  ancient  Britain,  what  it  is  still  in  nations  that  know  not 
the  revelations  of  God?  Our  distinctions  of  learning,  of  po- 
licy, of  heroism,  of  rank  and  of  fortune,  might  perhaps  have 
been  much  what  they  were  in  ancient  civilized  times;  but  it 
is  most  evident,  that  of  spiritual  life,  which  consists  of  love 
to  God  and  living  to  his  glory,  we  could  have  known  not  a 
glimmering;  knowing  neither  God,  nor  wherein  his  glory 
consists,  nor  how  he  was  to  be  served.  It  is  to  the  pains  he 
has  taken  to  inform  us,  and  ingratiate  himself  with  human 
nature,  to  the  revelations  he  has  made  of  his_.love  and  amia- 
ble character,  of  his  free  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  of  his  am- 
ple reward  and  plentiful  help  to  holiness  of  life,  that  we  are 
to  impute  any  progress  we  make  in  a  new  nature  and  a  near- 
er resemblance  to  his  divine  image.  Therefore  the  Almigh- 
ty, the  doing  of  the  Almighty,  the  free  grace  and  gift  of 
God,  not  nature's  innate  powers,  or  the  world's  patronage 
and  approbation,  is  what  we  have  to  thank  for  any  progress 
we  have  made — is  what  we  have  to  look  to  for  any  progress 
we  have  to  make  in  the  life  which  scripture  calleth  spiritu- 
al or  divine;  and  which  I  have  declared  to  be  the  only  de- 
liverance from  wrath  to  come. 

The  evangelical  preachers  therefore  are  right  in  refering 
all  past  progress,  and  deriving  all  hope  of  future  progress 
from  free  unmerited  grace,  from  the  influence  and  power 
of  the  Spirit  of  God;  and  the  moral  preachers  who  uphold 
man's  power  to  aid  and  abet  the  work,  and  man's  right  to 
share  in  the  glory,  are  doubtless  in  the  wrving,  inasmuch  as 
human  nature,  in  her  most  gifted  forms  and  in  her  most  fa- 
vourable moods  and  conditions,  did  never  win  any  way  to- 
wards the  divinity,  till  the  divinity  himself  gave  the  know- 
ledge to  inform  her,  the  impulse  to  move  her,  and  the  mo- 
tives to  carry  her  on.  But  the  evangelical  preachers,  as  they 
are  called,  though  right  in  the  main  drift  of  their  discours- 
ing, are  defective,  it  seems  to  me,  in  the  wisdom  of  their 
details;  and  herein,  as  I  think,  is  their  chief  defect,  in  giv- 
ing too  little  weight  to  the  word  of  God,  which  they  hold  to 
be  a  dead  inefficient  letter  until  the  Spirit  of  God  put  mean- 
ing into  its  passages.  This  is  at  once  to  lock  up  the  great 
storehouse  of  truth,  which  God  hath  in  every  part  accom- 
modated to  the  wants  and  faculties  of  man,  and  to  leave  the 
world  in  as  starving  a  state  as  ever.  We  are  out  at  sea 
once  more,  and  have  no  star  to  guide  our  way.  I,  as  a 
preacher,  cannot  move  a  step  with  an  unregenerate  man, 
if  so  be  Uiat  we  cannot  come  into  contact  upon  the  word  oi 


^92  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

God.  I  must  shut  up  the  prophecy  and  seal  the  testimony, 
if  so  be  that  to  his  understanding  it  is  a  blank  and  unmean- 
ing legend;  and  we  must  go  a  cruising  over  the  handy  works 
and  providence  of  God,  if  so  be  that  his  word  is  dark  to  us 
as  darkest  midnight.  Now  I  do  not  wish  to  go  to  war  with 
the  evangelical  preachers,  I  love  them  so  well;  but  I  cannot 
hel{)  challenging  them,  why  they  preach  as  they  wisely  do, 
the  truths  of  Christ  crucified  to  the  unregenerate,  if  so  be 
the  unregenerate  can  by  no  means  lay  hand  upon  any  of  these 
truths.  AH  their  practice  confutes  their  theory,  that  the  word 
of  God  is  a  riddle  unresolvable,  a  mystery  unsearchable, 
which  cannot  be  found  out  by  the  understanding  of  men. 
And  j^et,  neither  are  they  altogether  wrong  in  this  matter, 
upon  which  it  is  very  important  to  apprehend  the  exact  truth, 
more  especially  as  it  is  a  truth  most  easy  to  be  apprehend- 
ed, and  most  necessary  to  the  progress  of  spiritual  life,  and 
the  deliverance  of  the  wrath  to  come,  ' 

They  are  right,  in  as  far  as  this  goes,  that  the  truth  re- 
vealed in  the  word  of  God  concerning  his  own  nature,  con- 
cerning our  redemption,  concerning  creation  and  providence 
and  futurity,  concerning  the  duty  of  man  to  his  Maker,  and 
our  duty  to  each  other  in  a  spiritual  sense;  that  all  this  truth, 
human  nature  could  never  have  discovered;  and  therefore 
she  ought  for  ever  to  acknowledge  herself  debtor  to  God 
for  all  the  effects  which  it  produceth  upon  her  own  condi- 
tion and  upon  the  condition  of  the  world.  Therefore,  here 
again  we  are  at  one,  as  to  the  party  to  whom  all  the  grati- 
tude and  glory  should  be  rendered.  But  so  far  from  giving 
into  their  position,  that  the  Bible  is  a  sealed  book  to  men 
in  their  natural  estate,  I  hold  this  diametrically  opposite  po- 
sition. That  there  is  not  a  book  which,  being  read  with  all 
the  faculties  of  the  natural  man,  will  produce  upon  the  na- 
tural man  so  strong  an  impression;  will  so  exalt  his  imagi- 
nation, so  convince  his  mind,  so  rebuke  his  sins,  so  capti- 
vate his  affections,  so  overawe  his  wilfulness,  arrest  all  the 
thoughts  of  his  mind,  and  touch  all  the  feelings  of  his  heart. 
That  in  truth  it  is  an  arrow,  or  rather  a  quiver  full  of  ar- 
rows, aimed  with  a  divine  dexterity,  to  strike  into  the  in- 
ward parts  of  men;  And,  if  any  one  ask  me  to  prove  this 
position,  I  have  my  own  experience  to  refer  to,  which,  with 
a  constant  witness,  testifieth  that  God's  word  hath  been  quick 
and  powerful  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword;  and  I 
have  the  experience  of  all  converted  men  of  whom  I  have 
read,  in  whose  conversion  the  word  of  God  was  the  main 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  29S 

instrument;  I  have  David's  and  Paul's  constant  declarations, 
that  it  is  able  to  make  one  wise  unto  salvation. 

Now,  when  I  have  often  urged  upon  the  Evangelical 
brethren  the  necessity  of  pressing  their  people  to  the  word 
of  God  as  a  very  mentor  in  all  cases  and  conditions  of  life, 
and  the  folly  of  preaching  them  away  from  it,  by  casting 
clouds  and  darkness  and  mystery  around  its  approach,  stat- 
ing unto  them  what  hath  been  stated  above,  they  have  al- 
ways met  me  with  this  reply;  If  the  book  of  God  be  intel- 
ligible to  natural  men,  how  come  they  to  remain  so  ignorant 
of  it  and  so  disaffected  to  it?  To  this  I  answer,  that  they 
read  it  but  little,  many  of  them  not  at  all;  that  when  they  do 
read  it,  they  read  it  often  for  form's  sake,  and  consequently 
derive  no  benefit,  because  they  seek  none;  although  even 
then  it  sendeth  quivering  thoughts  into  their  inmost  breasts: 
or  they  read  it  for  taste's  sake;  and  are  gratified  in  all  the 
critical  and  imaginative  parts  of  the  mind,  farther  than 
which  they  aimed  not;  but  if  they  read  for  edification's  sake, 
to  know  God  and  Christ  and  Jiuman  responsibility,  then  it 
never  fareth  to  any  reader  to  read  in  vain.  But  what  fruit 
of  conviction  cometh  out  of  it,  they  ask?  That  is  another 
question,  to  be  touched  immediately.  Yet  that  seed  was  as 
good  seed,  as  able  to  strike  root  and  bear  increase,  which 
fell  by  the  way-side,  among  thorns,  and  on  the  face  of  bar- 
ren rocks,  as  that  which  fell  into  the  genial  soil:  so  also  are 
those  impressions  made  upon  the  natural  man  by  his  study 
of  the  Word,  as  fit  to  come  forth  into  the  new  birth  and  the 
spiritual  life,  as  those  which  actually  do  generate  in  spiritual 
men;  but  they  hold  not  good,  because  of  counteracting  in- 
fluences, kindred  to  those  in  the  parable;  the  devil  plucks 
them  away,  the  hot  sun  of  lust  and  pleasure  scorches  them, 
or  the  thorns  of  worldly  avocations  choke  them.  Yet,  though 
they  issue  not  in  fruit,  by  these  impressions,  which  this 
Word  doth  carry  in  every  bosom,  and  which  God  would 
bless  were  his  blessing  cared  for  or  sought  for,  by  these 
impressions  will  natural  men  be  judged  and  condemned  in 
the  terrible  day  of  the  Lord.  Let  not  God's  word  be  blam- 
ed, therefore,  which  is  like  the  sun  to  the  inward  soul,  heat- 
ing it  and  inflaming  it  to  what  is  good;  but  let  the  wicked 
preferences  which  men  give  to  every  other  impression,  of 
pleasure,  vanity,  interest  and  worldly  occupation,  be  blamed, 
and  let  them  be  taught  to  relax  their  love  of  these,  that  the 
other  may  grow  into  its  natural  strength  and  fruitfulness. 

Do  I,  then,  while  I  thus  would  unveil  the  written  word 
of  God  as  a  document  of  salvation,  and  a  patent  of  ever- 

38 


291  OP  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

lasting  life  to  every  one  who  looketh  upon  it  with  a  reflec- 
tive mind;  do  I  assert  that  the  natural  man  seeth  into  it  as 
deeply  as  doth  the  spiritual  man?  No.  Neither  doth  one 
spiritual  man  see  into  it  as  another  spiritual  man.  'Tis  a 
mere  glimmering,  a  faint  ray  and  streak  of  dawn  we  per- 
ceive at  first,  but  not  the  less  to  be  noted  or  prized  as  the 
hope  of  coming  day.  It  groweth  and  groweth  till  the  whole 
mind  be  overspread,  and  the  whole  heart  be  warmed,  and 
the  whole  life  fructified.  It  waxeth  more  useful  as  we  use 
it  more.  According  as  we  do  more,  we  understand  more. 
According  as  we  enter  into  the  obedience  of  it  we  taste  its 
more  exquisite  sweetness.  As  nature  yieldeth,  the  spirit 
quickeneth;  as  the  old  man  waxeth  fainter  under  his  cruci- 
fixion, the  new  man  waxeth  stronger  to  his  resurrection. 
And  what  needeth  there  more  talk  about  this  simple  matter, 
than  to  say  with  the  Psalmist,  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  per- 
fect, converting  the  soul;  the  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure, 
making  wise  the  simple;  the  statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right, 
rejoicing  the  heart;  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure, 
enlightening  the  eyes;  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  clear,  endur- 
ing for  ever;  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righ- 
teous altogether. 

Therefore,  so  far  from  shutting  up  and  sealing  the  pre- 
cious word  of  God  with  any  cover,  we  open  it  to  your 
minds  and  hearts  as  a  very  mine  of  treasure  and  inexhaus- 
tible storehouse  of  food,  the  armory  out  of  which  you  ar^ 
to  be  equipped,  defended,  reinforced,  made  valorous  and 
victorious  in  spiritual  life.  History  feedeth  the  natural 
knowledge  of  man;  commerce  feedeth  his  natural  appetites 
with  all  the  various  produce  of  the  earth;  poetry  feedeth 
his  fancy;  courts  cultivate  his  policy;  war  his  valorous  chi- 
valry; and  arts  his  inexhaustible  skill;  by  the  combination  of 
which,  and  other  active  agents,  all  the  varieties  of  character, 
from  the  king  to  the  peasant,  are  forged  out.  But,  alas!  not 
one  of  them  availeth  one  jot  to  call  forth  the  spiritual  man. 
They  will  stifle  and  slay  his  life  when  it  hath  been  procre- 
ated; to  give  it  birth,  they  avail  no  more  than  they  do  to 
restore  life  again  to  the  cold  clay  of  one  deceased.  So  true 
are  the  averments  of  Scripture,  that  this  world  is  dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins,  and  that  the  natural  man  knoweth  not 
the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  These  forms  of  manhood, 
forged  in  the  great  workshop  of  the  world,  never  dream 
that  there  is  a  nobler  form  still;  and  when  it  cometh  out  in 
its  gracefulness  before  them,  they  know  not  its  worth,  but 
hold  it  in  derision  and  tread  it  under  foot.     And  yet  there 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  295 

are  many  of  these  noble  specimens  of  manhood  who  peruse 
the  \K  ord  of  God  from  year  to  year,  without  coming  to  re- 
cognise, that,  with  all  their  pomp  and  splendid  accomplish- 
ments, they  are  hateful  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  will  be  dis- 
missed for  ever  from  his  righteous  presence.  But  the  word 
of  God,  though  they  catch  not  its  meaning,  is  not  veiled 
from  their  apprehension,  but  their  apprehension  Satan  dark- 
eneth  and  veileth  so  that  no  ray  of  its  piercing  intelligence 
can  reach  them  through  the  veils  of  the  world,  the  devil, 
and  the  flesh. 

This  brings  us  to  the  true  form  in  which  the  evangelical 
preacher  should  put  this  position;  not,  that  the  word  of  God 
is  unintelligible  to  nature,  but,  that  the  mind  may  be  so 
occupied  with  a  thousand  possessors  as  not  to  apprehend  it. 
He  should  lay  the  blame,  not  upon  the  obscurity  of  the  word, 
but  upon  the  occupations  of  the  mind.  Then  he  should  set 
forth,  as  our  Lord  doth  in  the  parable  of  the  sower,  the  va- 
rious enemies  which  hinder  its  influence,  carefully  detecting 
and  uncovering  the  veils  which  Satan  casteih  over  each  class 
of  readers  while  they  peruse  the  holy  text,  obscuring  all  its 
light,  and  leaving  the  spirit  in  as  great  ignorance  of  God  as 
it  found  him.  The  Jew  readeth,  but  there  is  a  veil  over 
his  eye  while  he  readeth  Moses  and  the  prophets;  the  Ma- 
homedan  readeth,  and  blasphemes  while  he  readeth;  the 
Hindoo  readeth,  but  gathers  no  savour  of  truth.  When 
Missionaries  deal  with  the  Jew,  the  Mahomedan  and  the 
Hindoo,  what  method  do  they  follow? — they  do  not  blast 
their  purpose  by  telling  the  people  the  book  has  no  meaning 
in  it  to  their  unregenerate  eye,  but  they  compare  texts  with 
the  Jew,  they  outargue  the  Mahomedan,  and  they  try  to 
rouse  the  slumbering  reason  of  the  Hindoo;  they  deal  skil- 
fully with  the  men,  studying  their  several  dilemmas  of  ig- 
norance and  prejudice,  and  doing  their  endeavours  to  extri- 
cate them  into  the  clear  apprehension  of  truth.  Now,  in  the 
name  of  consistency,  I  ask,  why  we  should  not  employ  the 
self-same  method  with  those  at  home?  to  whom,  however 
dark  the  Word  may  be  supposed,  it  surely  speaks  a  more 
intelligible  language,  being  believed  by  them,  revered  by 
them,  and  written  in  the  language  of  their  mother,  than  it 
doth  to  these  foreigners,  who  know  not  its  language,  believe 
not  its  divine  original,  and  hate  those  who  seek  to  persuade 
them  of  its  truth.  And  yet  with  the  foreigner  you  take  wise 
and  skilful  measures  to  couch  the  eye  of  his  ignorant  mind; 
to  the  man  at  home  you  present  the  cold  blank  coverlet  of 


296  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

the  book,  saying,  The  inward  spirit  of  it  is  to  him  quite  in- 
comprehensible. 

Oh!  I  hate  such  ignorant  prating,  because  it  taketh  the 
high  airs  of  orthodoxy,  and  would  blast  me  as  a  heretical 
liar,  if  I  go  to  teach  the  people  that  the  word  of  God  is  a 
well-spring  of  life,  unto  which  they  have  but  to  stoop  their 
lips  in  order  to  taste  its  sweet  and  refreshing  waters,  and  be 
nourished  unto  life  eternal.  But  these  high  airs  and  pitiful 
pelting  words  are  very  trifling  to  me,  if  I  could  but  persuade 
men  to  dismiss  all  this  cant  about  the  mysteriousness  and 
profound  darkness  of  the  word  of  God,  and  sift  their  own 
inward  selves  to  find  out  what  lethargy  of  conception  or 
blind  of  prejudice,  what  unwillingness  of  mind,  or  full  pos- 
session of  worldly  engagements,  hath  hitherto  hindered 
them  from  drinking  life  unto  their  souls  from  the  fountain 
of  living  waters.  But  if  I  go  about  to  persuade  my  breth- 
ren against  the  truth  of  experience,  against  the  very  sense 
and  meaning  of  revelation,  against  my  own  conviction,  that 
they  may  read  till  their  eye  grows  dim  with  age  without 
apprehending  one  word,  unless  it  should  please  God  by 
methods  unrevealed  to  conjure  intelligence  into  the  hiero- 
glyphic page;  what  do  I  but  interpose  another  gulf  between 
man  and  his  Maker,  dash  the  full  cup  of  spiritual  sweets 
from  his  lips,  and  leave  him  as  lonely,  helpless,  and  deso- 
late, as  he  was  before  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  did 
take  the  book  of  God's  hidden  secrets,  and  prevail  to  un- 
loose the  seals  thereof. 

Therefore,  I  cast  off  their  ignorant  and  scholastic  meth- 
ods, and  expound  to  my  brethren,  for  whose  regeneration  I 
travail  as  one  in  birth,  that  if  they  will  but  approach  this 
book  of  the  Lord's  in  a  reverent,  humble,  and  teachable 
disposition,  it  will  correct,  reprove,  and  instruct  them  in 
righteousness,  and  lay  the  seeds  of  that  everlasting  life 
which  we  have  undertaken  in  the  strength  of  God  to  dis- 
close. This  book  is  the  voice  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  which, 
if  we  disrespect,  we  cut  ourselves  off  from  all  his  further 
communings.  They  talk  as  if  a  stroke  of  the  Spirit  were 
needed  before  the  Word  can  be  perused.  I  say,  no.  The 
Word,  which  is  the  legible  Spirit,  must  be  had  in  reverence, 
and  perused  and  thought  on,  and  altogether  treated  as  it 
deserves,  or  esle  God  will  give  no  further  inspirations. 
What,  in  the  name  of  divine  wisdom  and  of  common  sense, 
will  God  allow  all  the  visitations  of  his  Spirit  to  prophet, 
priest  and  seer,  which  were  committed  to  writing,  that  men 
might  know  and  stand  in  awe  of  him — will  he  allow  the 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  297 

visitation  of  his  own  Son,  his  doctrines,  his  death,  his  re- 
surrection, and  his  salvation — will  he  allow  the  legacy  of 
spiritual  it;ifts  and  graces  promised  and  pressed  upon  the 
children  of  men — will  he  allow  all  this  record  and  testa- 
ment of  divine  gifts  to  go  into  a  kind  of  dissuetude,  to  die 
into  obscurity  and  death,  to  be  misused,  neglected  and 
spurned,  and  to  one  that  is  so  holding  them  in  contempt  and 
neglect,  come  with  a  divine  and  masterful  effusion  of  his 
grace,  and  enforce  upon  his  unwilling  soul  that  understand- 
ing and  regard  of  his  Word  which  heretofore  he  had  not, 
nor  cared  not  to  have?  I  say  not.  But,  upon  the  other 
hand,  he  will  honour  his  Word  by  testimonies  of  his  Spirit, 
the  residue  of  which  he  retaineth  in  order  to  honour  the 
record  which  he  hath  given.  He  will  give  us  his  Spirit  just 
in  proportion  to  our  reverence  and  use  of  his  Word.  The 
Word  is  the  first  thing,  the  Spirit  is  the  next  thing,  or  ra- 
ther they  are  two  things  which  should  never  be  parted. 
Keep  aloof  from  the  oracles  of  God,  keep  aloof  from  the 
places  where  they  are  discoursed  of,  from  the  companies 
which  fulfil  them,  and  you  are  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of 
Satan.  Come  to  the  Word,  and  meditate  thereonj  go  where 
its  truths  are  proclaimed,  watch  at  the  gates  where  divine 
wisdom  speaketh,  and  look  upon  the  men  whose  lives  she 
adorneth,  and  you  are  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Think  you  not,  that  because  the  Ethiopian  eunuch  read  in 
Isaiah  that  Philip  was  ordered  tojoin  himself  to  his  chariot, 
and  preach  unto  him  Christ,  so  if  you  read,  as  he  read, 
seeking  intelligence,  God  will  send  an  interpreter  of  what 
is  dark  to  your  hand,  or  send  the  unction  and  teaching  of 
the  Spirit  over  your  very  bosom? 

And  yet,  while  I  will  continue  so  long  as  I  live  to  oppose 
this  scarfing  up  of  the  glory  of  the  everlasting  Word,  I 
will  do  justice  to  the  motive  which  moves  the  evangelical 
preachers  to  this  unwary  and  most  ruinous  procedure.  They 
think  that  they  secure  to  God  the  entire  glory  of  the  con- 
version of  all  men  out  of  darkness  into  light,  by  stripping 
the  word  of  God  of  all  intrinsic  efficacy.  Now,  sooner 
than  divide  the  glory  between  God  and  another,  might  the 
tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth!  But  what,  do  they 
mean  to  say,  that  the  word  of  God  is  not  a  power  of  God, 
or  that  the  glory  given  to  the  Word  is  abstracted  from  him- 
self? The  word  of  God  I  hold  to  be  the  sum  total  of  all 
the  world  knows  of  God.  It  is  his  picture,  his  procedure, 
his  mind,  his  will,  his  truth.  It  is  the  annals  of  our  crea- 
tion, our  providence,  our  redemption.     It  is  his  book  of  ar- 


29h  OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME. 

guments«  his  book  of  persuasions,  his   book  of  promises. 
The  knowledge  which  is  in  it,  is  the  food  of  the  new  man; 
the  acts  of  divine  love  which  are  in  it,  are  the  consolation 
of  the  new  man;  the  assurances  of  divine  aid  which  are  in 
it,  are  his  strength  and  his  consolation.  And  they  are  guilty 
of  the  most  daring  profanation  who  would  take  the  glory 
from   the   Word,  wherever  they   may  please  to  bestow  it. 
They  that  shut  it  either  by  force  of  power  or  by  force  of 
persuasion,  or  by  force  of  a  refined  theology,  against  any 
mortal,  do  make  themselves  obnoxious  to  the  first  and  last 
imprecations  of  the  New  Testament,  and  ten  thousand  de- 
nunciations of  the  Old.     But  do  I,  in  thus  giving  a  seat  of 
highest  honour  and  most  powerful  authority  to  the  word  of 
God,  abstract  honour  and  influence  from  God  himself  or  the 
Spirit  of  God?     God  forbid!     Every  truth  in  the  revealed 
Word  is  a  treasure  sent  from  God  to  a  needy  world,  for  the 
want  of  which  that  world  would  fare  the  worse;  and  what- 
ever benefits  it  doth  impart  are  to  be  ascribed  to  God,  as 
simply  as  if  they  had  been  imparted  at  first  hand,  and  visi- 
bly from  heaven.     God,  knowing  human  nature,  that  it  was 
a  fine  intellectual,  moral  structure,  capable  of  being  moved 
by  ethereal  and  lofty  truth,  and  of  being  won  over  to  right 
by  argument  and  affection  rather  than  tyrannic  force,   halh^ 
out  of  a  high  respect  and   in  wise  accommodation  to  our 
faculties,  presented  in  his  Word  such  aliment  as  the  soul  of 
man  rejoiceth  in.     For  the  soul,  like  the  body,  hath  its  wise 
and  intricate  structure,  and  that  knowledge  which  it  taketh 
in,  like   the  food  which  we  eat,  setteth  on  work  a  thousand 
organs,  which,  healthily  acted  upon  by  the  wholesome  nour- 
ishment, do  digest  and  transform  the  same,  and  bring  forth 
strength  and  beauty  and  grace.     And  as  to  God,  who  sen- 
deth  food,  we  ascribe  the  glory  of  our  bodily  strength  which 
that   food  refresheth  and  upholdeth,  so  to  God  who  hath 
sent  his  Word  to  be  the  food  of  the  divine  life,  we  ought 
equally  to  ascribe  the  divine  life  which  that  Word  engen- 
ders and  maintains.     I  do  allow,  at  the  same  time,  that  as 
unwholesome  food  and  irregular  living  do  corrupt  the  body, 
and  make  all  its  organs  sickly  and  diseased;  so  the  use  of 
this  world's  ungodly  maxims,  and  the  observance  of  their 
evil  customs,  as  well  as  the  natural  corruption  of  the  soul 
itself,  have  communicated  various  disorders  and  derange- 
ments to  the  frame-work  of  the  spirit  of  man.     And  I  am 
far  from  alleging  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  a  divine  re- 
generation of  human  nature  by  the  Spirit  of  God.     On  the 
of&ce  of  the  Spirit  in  building  up  spiritual  life  I  shall  im- 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  299 

mediately  speak.  My  argument  now  is  not  against  his 
operation,  but  in  behalf  of  the  operation  of  the  Word.  I 
do  not  wish  to  disparage  the  Spirit,  but  I  will  not  have  the 
Word  disparaged  as  it  is  wont  to  be.  For  the  Word  is  the 
audible  voice  of  the  Spirit,  his  letter  to  us  of  remonstrance, 
of  love,  of  entreaty;  which  neglecting,  we  shall  have  no 
closer,  more  inward  admonition;  which  paying  respect  and 
giving  heed  to,  as  to  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place,  the 
day  shall  dawn,  and  the  day- star  arise  on  our  hearts. 

Therefore,  if  those  that  are  meditating  to  stand  in  the  day 
of  judgment,  would  prosper  in  their  hearts'  desire,  they 
must  address  their  souls  to  the  perusal  of  God's  word,  and 
meditate  it  with  their  whole  hearts;  believing  all  its  repre- 
sentations of  God's  goodness,  and  justice,  and  truth;  receiv- 
ing all  God's  gifts  of  creation,  and  providence,  and  redemp- 
tion, as  an  earnest  of  his  further  gifts  of  sanctificatioh  and 
everlasting  life.  They  must  not  only  read,  but  reflect;  they 
must  not  only  reflect,  but  they  must  discourse  and  entertain 
discourse  upon  it.  They  must  not  only  receive  it,  but  re- 
ject that  which  opposeth  it,  with  all  the  habits  which  con- 
travene it;  in  desiring  and  doing  which,  they  should  repose 
their  trust  upon  God,  and  give  praise  to  him,  for  they  are 
reading,  reflecting,  and  acting  upon  that  which  he  bestowed. 
Their  travelling  with  his  word  they  ought  to  regard  as  a 
travelling  with  himself.  If  ever  they  detach  the  word  from 
the  mouth  and  heart  of  him  that  speaketh  it,  then  it  will  be- 
come a  snare  to  withdraw  them  from  God;  but  if  they  keep 
in  mind,  that  when  it  instructs,  God  instructs;  when  it  en* 
treats,  God  entreats;  when  it  breathes  tenderness,  God 
breathes  tenderness;  when  it  offers,  God  offers;  when  it 
threatens,  God  threatens:  then  I  declare  before  all  wise,  and 
pious  men,  I  see  not  what  evil  can  accrue;  I  rather  wonder 
that  all  good  should  not  accrue  from  the  greatest  and  the 
closest  travelling  with  the  word  of  God. 

While  the  soul  inhereth  in  the  word,  dwelling  and  feed- 
ing thereon,  it  ought  to  inhere  in  the  Spirit  of  God,  with 
whose  word  it  communeth;  just  as  when  you  hear  a  man 
speak,  you  do  not  separate  his  words  from  the  soul  which 
utters  them,  unless  you  believe  him  a  deceiver,  which,  if 
you  believe  God  to  be,  I  pray  you  to  cast  his  word  aside. 
For  what  are  words?  Words,  if  I  may  so  speak,  are  a  body 
to  the  soul;  finer,  more  expressive,  more  varied  than  the 
fleshly  body.  By  them  she  doth  express  her  unseen  emo- 
tions and  passions  to  another  soul,  which,  catching  the  mean- 
ing of  the  same,  reacheth  forth  a  kindred  implement  of  be- 


300  OP  JUDGMENT  TO    COME. 

ing;  they  communicate  with  each  other,  they  embrace  each 
other,  they  rejoice  in  each  other,  they  dwell  in  each  other, 
they  travel  in  company  over  spiritual  and  intellectual  worlds 
by  this  airy  vehicle  of  words.  Oh,  what  a  glorious  inven- 
tion is  this  of  words!  It  makes  the  soul  visible,  tangible, 
impressible;  enabling  it  to  dwell  in  many  places  at  once  over 
the  habitable  earth;  it  preserveth  the  soul  upon  the  earth 
long  after  the  body  is  dead  in  the  grave;  yea,  it  breaketh 
the  bond  of  death,  and  toucheth  the  clayey  lips  of  the  de- 
ceased with  their  wonted  fires.  We  converse  with  them, 
we  live  with  them,  we  call  them  from  their  spheres;  they 
come,  they  tarry,  not  till  the  dawn  of  morning,  or  the  crow- 
ing of  morning's  messenger,  like  the  spirit  of  superstition, 
but  they  stay  with  us  days  and  nights  and  for  ever;  and  we 
can  gather  a  general  assembly  of  departed  worthies,  we  can 
have  them  in  our  closets,  they  will  instruct  us,  they  will 
exhort  us,  they  will  make  us  merry;  they  will  make  us  great 
and  good,  and  teach  us  to  fulfil  the  same  good  and  noble 
offices  to  those  who  follow  after  us. 

Such,  even,  such  is  the  word  of  God,  a  link  between  the 
soul  of  man  and  the  soul  of  God,  a  stage  whereon  heaven 
meeteth  with  earth,  to  bless  her  needy  children.  The  spirit 
of  man  there  communeth  and  consorteth  with  the  Spirit  of 
God.  The  Spirit  of  God  hath  also  taken  the  artificial  body 
of  words,  and  putteth  forth  his  feelings  to  call  forth  the 
feelings  of  man;  and  the  feelings  of  man  come  forth  to  the 
embodied  feelings  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  even  as  they  come 
forth  to  the  embodied  feelings  of  the  spirit  of  man,  because 
they  are  embodied  after  the  same  fashion  and  with  equal 
favour.  And  so  it  cometh  to  pass,  that  communion  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  engendered,  and  then  the  airy  vehicle  of 
words  is  nothing;  but  if  the  communion  faileth,  it  must  be 
resorted  to  again,  as  the  only  instrument  given  by  heaven 
unto  men  for  that  sanctifymg  office. 

If  ever  this  recollection  goeth  out  of  the  mind,  that  the 
Word  is  but  the  voice  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  instrument  of 
holding  intercourse  between  two  spirits,  the  soul  of  man  and 
the  Spirit  of  God;  if  the  Spirit  of  God  be  not  beheld  through 
the  transparent  screen,  exhibiting  his  various  affections  to- 
wards us;  if  the  screen  aloi  e  be  looked  upon,  its  beauty,  its 
structure,  its  richness,  its  usefulness;  then  evils  accrue  which 
I  will  open  up  as  brieflj  as  I  can. 

This  I  have  found,  from  experience,  that  when  I  perused 
the  word  of  God  without  putting  it  into  the  mouth  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and  communing  with  him  through  that  ave- 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME,  301 

nue,  I  have  grown  in  theoretical  knowledge  of  theology  and 
spiritual  life,  without  feeling  any  thing  of  its  power;  my 
head  engaged,  my  intellect  and  taste  gratified,  my  heart  not 
humbled,  not  convinced,  not  warmed  with  divine  love.  And 
though  I  knew  it  to  be  all  the  gift  of  God,  I  have  grown  in- 
sensible to  the  giver,  and  made  his  written  word  another 
field  on  which  to  build  idolatry  of  myself,  and  carry  dis- 
comfiture upon  the  weakness  and  wickedness  of  others.  For, 
look  abroad,  and  consider  the  proneness  of  man  to  forget  his 
Maker,  however  enriched  and  surrounded  by  his  Maker's 
gifts,  to  take  the  glory  to  himself,  and  to  use  all  the  bles- 
sings of  God  as  the  ladder  upon  which  to  elevate  his  own 
ambitious  consequence:  For  example,  how  nature  becomes 
the  god  of  the  man  who  turns  her  into  poetry,  exhibits  her 
in  painting,  or  rears  his  tasteful  dwelling  among  her  choi- 
cest scenes;  he  sighs  over  her,  and  devoutly  beholds  her, 
and  lauds  her  with  an  exalted  song,  and '  takes  his  fill  from 
his  mother's  bosom,'  as  the  profane  poet  says.  Witness 
again  a  man  who  sets  his  heart  upon  the  bouniies  of  Provi- 
dence, and  stores  his  house  with  the  first  essence  of  all 
things,  until  it  is  a  very  cabinet  of  rarest  and  most  precious 
articles;  a  man  whose  feast  is  chosen  from  a  thousand  quar- 
ters of  nature  and  art,  whose  wines  are  well  selected  and 
long  stored,  and  his  furniture  of  the  finest  imagining,  and 
most  costly  material.  This  ample  possessor  becomes  an 
adorer  of  these  goods  of  Providence,  as  the  other  was  an 
adorer  of  the  face  of  creation;  hath  generally  as  little  sense 
of  God,  whose  favourite  child  he  is,  and  whose  best  tokens 
of  kindness  he  hath  around  him;  is  as  thankless  and  harden- 
ed in  heart  towards  the  God  of  all  providence,  as  the  senti- 
mental admirer  and  painter  of  Nature  is  dead  to  the  God 
who  hath  dressed  Nature  in  all  her  lovely  charms.  Even 
so,  by  virtue  of  this  same  adoration  of  the  handiwork,  and 
neglect  of  the  great  Artificer,  would  mankind,  if  God  had 
fixed  the  rewards  of  religion  in  the  diligent  perusal  of  the 
Bible,  if  he  had  isolated  religious  enjoyment  from  himself, 
and  fixed  it  on  any  work  as  the  enjoyment  of  Providence 
and  Nature,  have  become  isolated  by  the  fall,— Even  so 
would  mankind  have  made  the  Bible  a  third  region  of  ido- 
latry and  self-applause.  They  would  have  searched  it,  I 
doubt  not,  and  drawn  out  of  it  the  enjoyment  it  contained; 
and  many  would  have  trodden  its  path  of  improvement, 
though  thorny,  as  they  have  trodden  the  thorny  path  of 
science,  and  the  venturous  path  of  lofty  poesy;  yea,  many 
would  have  dug  the  soul  out  of  the  little  treatise,  and  trans- 

39 


S02  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

fused  into  their  breast  all  the  nobility  which  it  could  give; 
and,  in  doing  so,  have  travelled  further  and  further  from 
the  God  of  the  Bible,  and  in  his  stead,  made  a  god  of  the 
Bible,  which  wrought  in  them  such  distinction,  or  a  god  of 
their  distinguished  selves;  just  as  they  have  made  a  God  of 
Nature's  beauty,  and  of  Providence's  fulness. 

Now,  as  the  Bible  is  not  intended  to  be  a  third  region  of 
atheism,  like  as  nature  and  providence  by  the  lapse  of  this 
world  have  become,  but  is  intended  to  counterwork  the 
alienating  influence  of  these  from  God,  and  to  generate  the 
closest  communion  between  the  Creator  and  the  creature; 
therefore  God  hath  not  made  the  Scriptures  final  and  all- 
powerful  of  themselves,  to  work  any  of  the  graces  of  the  re- 
newed man,  but  hath  required  to  be  conjoined  therewith  an 
apprehension  of  his  Spirit's  nature,  which  speaketh  through 
the  Scriptures,  and  a  junction  of  fellow  feeling  with  the  Spi- 
rit which  speaketh.  Could  the  Bible,  being  kept  apart  from 
the  Spirit,  work  one  grace,  then  the  credit  of  that  grace  were 
forthwith  given  to  the  Bible,  as  the  credit  of  begetting  taste 
and  enjoyments  in  us  is  given  to  nature  and  the  productions 
of  nature;  during  all  the  time  we  were  in  attaining  the  grace, 
we  should  remove  our  attention  from  God  to  the  thing 
which  he  had  stamped  with  the  power  of  conferring  it:  and 
if  so  of  one  grace,  so  of  every  other.  And  thus  the  Chris- 
tian through  the  Word,  should  have  been  completed  after 
the  same  atheistical  process,  as  the  poetical  or  imaginative 
man  is  completed  by  rendering  his  worship  to  nature,  and 
the  sensual  man  by  rendering  his  worship  to  the  goods  of 
providence. 

It  seems  strange  thus  to  speak  of  the  Christian  being  com- 
pleted by  an  atheistical  process,  seeing  to  be  a  Christian 
means  to  be  in  close  fellowship  with  God.  But  I  am  speak- 
ing of  a  supposed  condition  of  things,  different  from  the  ex- 
isting one,  that  the  Bible  held  within  itself  the  virtue,  when 
properly  used,  to  renew  the  soul  in  the  Christian  image.  In 
that  case,  I  reason,  we  should  take  on  the  alteration,  and 
give  the  glory  to  that  which  had  the  power  of  producing  it. 
We  might  occasionally  remember  the  Author  of  the  book 
with  feelings  of  admiration  and  gratitude,  but  we  would 
hang  the  great  credit  upon  ourselves  for  possessing  and  im- 
proving by  such  a  work.  A  mathematician  gives  little  of 
his  acquirements  to  Euclid  or  Newton,  his  teachers,  but 
t^kes  it  to  himself,  and  by  reflection  from  himself  idolizes 
the  science  in  the  abstract,  by  which  he  stands  distinguish- 
ed. Now  just  as  the  mathematician  glories  in  mathematics. 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  303 

and  upholds  the  works  of  mathematicians,  but  thinks  not  of 
the  God  who  established  these  mathematical  relations  in  the 
world,  and  made  the  mind  of  man  capable  to  perceive  and 
communicate  the  same;  so  if  religion,  by  the  study  of  a  vo- 
lume or  volumes,  could  be  wrought  in  the  soul,  those  who 
had  taken  pains  to  have  it  wrought  in  themselves,  would 
adore  religion  in  the  abstract,  and  the  book  which  taught 
it,  all  forgetfuU  as  the  man  of  science,  of  God  who  dictated 
the  book,  and  formed  the  soul  to  profit  by  its  means. 

It  is  man's  nature  to  forget  God,  however  much  God 
may  do  for  him;  to  adore  creation,  and  not  the  Creator;  to 
adore  the  fulness  of  the  earth,  not  God,  who  maketh  her 
horn  to  bud  forth  pleasantly;  and  even  so  if  the  word  of  God 
were  enriching  us  with  spiritual  graces,  we  were  apt  to  for- 
get him  who  gave  it,  and  adore  the  gift  which  he  had  given, 
and  compliment  ourselves  for  possessing  and  improving  it. 
To  prevent  such  an  abstraction  of  the  soul  from  himself, 
God  hath  revealed,  that  whatever  fruits  of  righteousness  his 
word  produceth  are  due  to  his  Spirit,  and  that  the  glory  of 
them  should  be  rendered  unto  his  grace. 

This  is  a  revelation  of  God,  not  discoverable  by  human 
consciousness,  and  therefore  it  is  apt  to  be  rejected.  Men 
are  not  conscious  of  a  Divine  influence  resident  within  the 
temple  of  their  soul.  They  feel  no  will  but  their  own  will, 
no  strength  but  their  own  strength.  A  few  Christians  do 
profess  an  internal  commotion,  and  exhibit  an  external  ago- 
ny or  triumph.  But  this,  even  though  granted  to  be  genu- 
ine, is  only  at  the  first  stage  of  their  spiritual  life,  which 
goes  on  thereafter  without  any  foreign  influence  percepti- 
ble to  themselves.  So  that  all  which  we  are  conscious  of  is 
the  presence  of  the  words  and  truths  of  revelation,  dwelt 
upon  frequently,  believed  on  implicitly,  remembered  sea- 
sonably, and  obeyed  in  the  face  of  our  pleasure,  our  ease, 
and  our  interest.  The  influence  of  the  Word,  therefore,  is 
the  thing  which  we  feel  and  are  conscious  of;  the  influence 
of  the  Spirit  is  the  thing  which  we  are  not  conscious  of,  but 
which  we  arc  yet  desired  to  believe. 

But  because  it  is  not  known  to  us  by  our  intimate  percep- 
tions, we  ought  not  the  less  to  account  it  worthy  of  belief. 
Heaven  is  not  seen  by  us,  nor  the  pit  of  Hell  disclosed  be- 
fore us,  yet  the  one  enters  into  our  hopes,  the  other  into  our 
fears.  God  is  not  visible  to  us,  nor  his  presence  sensible 
around  us,  yet  do  we  believe  that  in  him  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being.  Christ's  dwelling-place  none  of  us  hath 
known,  nor  his  voice  have  we  heard,  yet  at  this  moment  we 


304  OF   JUDGMENT  TO    COME. 

believe  he  intercedcvS  for  us  at  the  right  hand  of  power.  An- 
gelic messengers  we  believe  in,  though  we  cannoi  behold 
them  cleaving  the  air  in  the  discharge  of  their  celestial  he- 
raldry. The  devil's  roving  commission  against  the  sons  of 
mea  we  believe,  and  his  frequent  success  against  ourselves 
we  believe  likewise,  though  of  his  voice,  enticing  to  evil,  we 
were  never  conscious. 

If  you  give  up  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit's  influence  upon 
the  heart  because  you  perceive  it  not,  I  see  not  but  that  you 
should  give  up  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ's  being  the  Son 
of  God,  which  rests  upon  no  foundation  of  sense  or  feeling, 
but  upon  revelation  alone.  The  doctrine,  likewise,  that  God 
is  reconciled  to  men  by  the  death  of  his  Son,  which  no  man 
believes  from  having  seen  God  smile  upon  him,  or  heard 
God  speak  him  kind,  but  from  having  it  revealed  by  the 
same  blessed  Personages  who  have  likewise  revealed  that 
the  Spirit  helpeth  our  infirmities,  and  showeth  the  things  of 
Christ  unto  our  souls. 

No  one  having  the  name  of  Christian,  not  even  Unitari- 
ans themselves,  who  would  steal  the  fire  from  off  the  altar 
of  our  heavenly  temple,  and  leave  it  a  cold  unhallowed  de- 
solation,; yet  not  even  they  refuse  to  acknowledge  that  God 
rules  in  the  earth,  raising  up  and  pulling  down;  that  he  hath 
the  times  and  seasons  of  human  life  in  his  hand,  that  he 
feeds  our  prosperity,  makes  our  adversity  bare;  gives  and 
takes  away,  and  is  to  be  acknowledged  with  reverence  in  all 
our  lot.  This  presence  of  God,  through  providence.  Chris- 
tians of  every  name  believe.  Now,  may  I  ask  how  they 
come  by  this  belief.  Have  they  seen  God  going  to  and  fro 
upon  the  earth?  have  they  seen  his  bared  arm,  or  heard  his 
uplifted  voice?  What  evidence  of  sense  have  they,  or  evi- 
dence of  internal  feeling — for  they  do  not  feel  a  God  touch- 
ing their  hearts  with  joy — or  infusing  the  poison  of  sorrow. 
When  the  devil  smites  the  four  corners  of  their  house,  as  he 
did  Job's,  or  their  camels,  or  their  sheep  and  oxen,  how 
come  they  to  know  that  it  is  God  who  trieth  them  for  their 
good,  except  by  revelation  early  instilled  into  their  minds, 
and  therefore  almost  instinctively  believed. 

If,  then,  the  truth  of  God's  presence  and  presidency  in 
our  worldly  affairs  find  for  itself  universal  belief  amongst 
Christians,  though  resting  upon  revelation  alone,  and  having 
no  foundation  either  in  sight  or  perception;  upon  what  plea 
will  they  reject  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit's  presence  and 
presidency  in  the  great  world  of  grace,  if  it  be  found  reveal- 
ed with  the  same  distinctness?  There  ought  therefore  to  be 


of  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  305 

no  preliminary  objection  taken  to  it  upon  the  grounds  of  its 
not  being  perceptible,  but  the  Scriptures  should  be  searched 
whether  it  be  so  or  not. 

Rather,  upon  the  other  hand,  because  it  is  not  percepti- 
ble, we  should  entertain  it  as  more  akin  to  the  other  opera- 
tions of  the  invisible  God.  For,  exalt  your  thoughts  a  little, 
and  conceive  the  ways  of  God;  look  abroad  over  the  world, 
and  what  do  you  behold? — Noiseless  nature  putting  forth 
her  buds,  and  drinking  the  milk  of  her  existence  from  the 
distant  sun.  Where  is  Godr  he  is  not  seen,  he  is  not  heard 
— where  is  the  sound  of  his  footsteps — where  the  rushing 
of  his  chariot  wheels — where  is  his  storehouse  for  this  in- 
habited earth — where  are  the  germs  of  future  plants,  where 
the  juices  of  future  fruits — and  where  is  the  hand  dividing 
its  portion  to  every  living  thing,  and  filling  their  hearts  with 
life  and  joy?  Lift  your  thoughts  a  little  higher;  behold  the 
sun;  doth  he,  when  preparing  to  run  his  race,  shake  himself 
like  a  strong  man  after  sleep,  and  make  a  rustling  noise,  and 
lift  up  his  voice  to  God  for  a  renewal  of  his  exhausted 
strength?  Doth  the  pale-faced  and  modest  moon,  which 
Cometh  forth  in  the  season  of  the  night,  make  music  in  the 
still  sdence  to  her  Maker's  praise?  Do  the  stars  in  their  se- 
veral spheres  tell  to  mortal  sense  the  wondrous  stories  of 
their  births?  Turn  your  thoughts  inward  upon  yourselves, 
and  say  if  your  manly  strength  did  grow  out  of  infant  help- 
lessness with  busy  preparations  and  noisy  workmanship,  as 
the  chiseled  form  of  man  groweth  out  of  the  quarried  stone. 
In  the  still  evening,  when  you  lay  you  down  wearied  and 
worn  out,  doth  your  strength  return  during  the  watches  of 
the  sleepy  and  unconscious  night  by  noise  and  trouble,  as  a 
worn  out  machine  is  refitted  by  the  cunning  workman?  Tell 
me  how  intelligence  grows  upon  the  unconscious  babe;  where 
are  the  avenues  of  knowledge,  and  by  what  method  doth  it 
fix  itself.  Yet,  though  God  maketh  not  his  arm  bare  through 
all  the  earth,  and  hath  no  heralds  of  his  praise  stationed  in 
the  lofty  heavens;  and  though  in  the  wondrous  recesses  of 
human  nature  his  presence  be  no  where  sensibly  felt,  yet 
who  doth  not  believe  that  the  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the 
fulness  thereof;  the  world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein;  that 
the  heavens  declare  her  glory,  and  the  firmament  showeth 
her  handiwork;  that  he  hath  breathed  into  our  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life,  and  that  the  inspiration  of  God  hath  given  us 
understanding! 

Go  not,  then,  to  take  objection,  when  God  puts  in  for  the 
same  unseen,  unfelt  influence  in  the  region  most  proper  to 


306  X)F  JUDGMEiNT  TO  COME. 

him  of  all,  the  region  of  man's  recovery  into  his  lost  image. 
He  asks  to  be  acknowledged  in  the  progress  of  our  spirits 
in  holiness,  as  he  is  acknowledged  in  the  progress  of  our 
fortunes  in  the  world.  He  asks  to  be  acknowledged  in  the 
sustenance  of  our  spiritual,  as  he  is  acknowledged  in  the  sus- 
tenance of  our  natural,  lives.  He  asks  the  devout  dependance 
for  spiritual  strength,  food,  and  promotion,  which  \vt  are 
wont  to  render  for  our  natural  strength,  food,  and  promo- 
tion. And  upon  what  principle  can  we  refuse  to  thtj  Spirit 
of  God  the  same  sovereignty  over  our  inner  man,  which  we 
yield  to  the  providence  of  God  over  our  outer  man?  They 
lie  equally  beyond  the  region  of  proof  and  experience,  both 
being  within  the  region  of  pure  revelation. 

But,  though  providence  be  most  devoutly  acknowledged, 
it  doth  not  alter  in  any  thing  our  endeavours  to  procure 
success.  The  pious  farmer,  who  bows  night  and  morning 
before  God  for  his  blessing,  and  with  a  devout  heart  con- 
templates the  springing  of  the  earth,  and  with  uplifted  eye 
acknowledges  the  genial  heat  of  the  sun,  acquaints  himself  no 
less  with  the  knowledge,  and  operosely  pursues  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  than  if  he  depended  upon  his  own  skill 
and  handiwork  alone.  What  would  he  think  of  some  fervid, 
superstitious  dreamer,  who  should  come  and  challenge  his 
ploughing  and  sowing  and  dressing,  and  call  it  impiety  and 
independence  upon  God,  and  school  him  for  taking  the  glory 
from  Providence  unto  himself!  This  cant  can  be  sung  no 
where  but  in  religion,  where  men  are  too  much  overawed 
to  think. 

In  like  manner,  because  we  acknowledge  the  Spirit  of 
God  as  the  providence  and  procuration  of  our  spiritual  life, 
and  give  him  the  glory  of  all  the  fruits  of  holiness  which  we 
bear,  are  we  therefore  to  abstract  in  any  thing  our  study 
from  the  word  of  God,  which  contains  the  science,  and  from 
active  holiness,  which  is  the  practice  of  our  spiritual  husban- 
dry? and  shall  we  be  accused  by  narrow-minded,  inquisito- 
rial heresy-hunters,  because  we  urge  the  spirits  of  all  flesh 
to  study  this  heaven-bestowed  manual,  and  to  put  its  direc- 
tions in  practice  all  the  day  long?  Which,  verily,  these  un- 
feeling men  would  hide  from  the  common  eye  of  this  world's 
suffering  encampment,  and  preserve  for  the  single  entertain- 
ment of  those  who  are  already  healed. 

Therefore,  at  one  and  the  same  time  must  the  truths  of 
the  Word  be  entertained  in  the  mind's  storehouse,  and  fed 
upon  by  the  heart  and  the  affections,  and  exhibited  in  a 
blameless  walk  and  conversation;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  must 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  307 

be  depended  on  and  glorified  for  every  step  of  our  progress, 
for  the  truth  while  we  read  it,  for  the  understanding  to  un- 
derstand it,  for  the  hearr.  to  feel  it,  for  the  courage  to  main- 
tain it,  aud  for  the  intrepidity  and  constancy  to  bring  it 
forth. 

More  than  this  I  declare  myself  incompetent  to  see;  and 
they  may  blame  me  for  what  they  choose,  but  I  can  no  more. 
I  cannot  f  nd  in  my  heart  to  blemish  that  glorious  and  po- 
tential Word,  which  first  the  ministry  of  angels,  and  then 
the  ministry  of  Christ,  and  then  the  ministry  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  brought  from  heaven's  sanctuary  of  truth  to  this  ne- 
cessitous and  beguiled  earth.  I  cannot  find  to  cast  mist  and 
mystery  upon  its  intelligible  face,  hesitation  and  dimness 
over  the  eye  which  looks  on  it.  Read,  read,  and  be  instruct- 
ed in  all  the  offices  of  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and 
God  the  Holy  Spirit.  Read,  read,  that  your  souls  may  live, 
and  the  gross  darkness  which  covers  you  may  clear  away, 
and  your  hearts  may  know  their  deceitfulness,  and  your 
feet  find  the  path  of  life. 

For  the  sake  of  those  who  find  a  difficulty  in  receiving 
this  doctrine  of  the  spiritual  influence,  we  have  set  forth 
these  explanations.  We  give  them  credit  for  rejecting  the 
jejune  and  uninformed  speculations,  which,  to  make  a  place 
for  the  doctrine,  must  first  put  the  eye  and  the  soul  out  of 
the  whole  revelations  of  God,  and  make  them  without  in- 
telligence, persuasion,  or  purpose;  that  afterwards  they  may 
magnify  the  office  of  the  Spirit,  in  all  at  once  taking  off  this 
veil,  and  making  them  legible  and  intelligible.  This  doc- 
trine is  not  according  to  fact,  for  the  word  of  God  is  of  all 
books  that  which  has  produced  the  strongest  influence  upon 
the  institutions  of  men,  and  which,  perhaps,  is  the  last  book 
to  lose  its  natural  influence  upon  individual  men.  It  doth 
not  convert  all  men,  because  all  men  do  not  know,  do  not 
believe,  do  not  keep  in  memory,  do  not  abide  in  its  truths; 
but  its  truths  are  not  passive  truths,  but  of  the  sharpest  and 
most  active  virtue.  They  can  be  resisted,  doubtless,  and 
they  require  fair  play  within  the  soul,  and  call  for  an  ener- 
gy of  study  and  contemplation;  but  no  man  was  ever  yet 
brought  out  of  darkness  into  light,  but  by  some  of  these 
revelations  taking  hold  upon  his  mind,  and  working  by  a 
natural  influence  upon  all  his  feelings  and  all  his  actions. 

This  depreciation  of  the  Word  into  an  unintelligible  le- 
gend, is  not  only  against  the  fact  of  universal  experience, 
but  against  the  declarations  of  all  Scripture,  wherein  the 
statutes,  the  commandments,  the  Word,  the  Son  and  the 


308  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

Spirit  of  God,  are  exalted  with  a  mutual  honour,  and  not 
one  depreciated  with  the  design  of  exalting  another.     But 
if  there  is  one  thing   in  Scripture   more  exalted  than  an- 
other, it  is  the  Word*  and  that  most  wisely,  because  from  it 
is  the  knowledge  of  all  the  rest,  and  of  God  himself.     For, 
lending  a  deaf  ear  to  this  most  dangerous  of  all  heresies,  if 
we  may  use  that  cant  term,  we  do  give  men  credit;  but  if 
they  thereupon  would  draw  away  from  dependence  upon 
God's  Spirit,  we  hold  them  again,  and  pray  them  to  consi- 
der, that  because  the  Word  is  well  fitted  to  enlighten  the 
eyes  of  the  blind  and  give  understanding  to  the  simple,  its 
influence  is  nevertheless  to  be  ascribed  to  the  Spirit  of  God 
— in  like  manner  as  the  fruits  of  the  harvest,  or  the  success 
of  the  mariner,  and  the  general  prosperity  of  life,  are  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  hand  of  God,  though  seemingly  produced 
by  no  means  but  our  own  industry,  skill,  and  carefulness. 
Nay  more,  though  the  Word   has   in  it  a  constant  virtue, 
and  will  have  till  the  end  of  time,  which  virtue  is  only  to 
be  derived   from  it  by  a  faithful  perusal  and  persevering 
obedience;   still,  if  we  look  not  constantly  to  the   Spirit  of 
God  for  the  increase,  we  shall  never  grow  in  religion,  though 
in  self-conceit  and  ingratitude  we  may  grow — -just  in  like 
manner   as  though  the   fertility  reside   in   the  elements  of 
earth,  water,  air  and  heat,  and  may  never  be  extracted  from 
them  but  by  study  to  discover  and  industry  to  practise;  still, 
if  the  labourer  look  not  to  the  providence  of  God  for  all  his 
increase,  he  shall  grow  hard  in  his  impiety  and  his  ingrati- 
tude, but  in  devotion  and  godliness  he  shall  not  grow. 

But  while  you  read,  and  light  begins  to  dawn,  praise  the 
Lord  for  his  goodness,  and  be  encouraged  to  go  forward, 
and  conceive  no  vain  gloryings,  but  glory  in  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord;  and  when  the  voice  of  conscience  awaketh  from 
its  long  slumbers,  give  ear  to  its  admonitions,  and  praise 
the  Lord  for  his  goodness.  And  when  the  sense  of  sin 
overwhelms  you,  still,  in  the  overflowing  floods,  trust  in 
him.  And  when  the  Saviour,  all-glorious  in  his  sufficient 
righteousness,  discloseth  himself  to  your  view,  rejoice  and 
be  exceeding  glad,  and  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness, 
and  for  his  loving-kindness  unto  the  children  of  men.  And 
when  at  length  you  come  to  walk  after  the  Spirit,  and  to 
have  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  that  you  are  the  sons  of  God, 
and  to  feel  your  calling  and  election  becoming  sure,  then 
give  thanks  to  God,  and  wait  for  the  revelation  of  his  sons, 
and  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light. 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 
PART  IX. 


THE  REVIEW  OF  THE  WHOLE  ARGUMENT,  AND  AN 
ENDEAVOUR  TO  BRING  IT  HOME  TO  THE  SONS  OF 
MEN. 

This  is  no  common  argument  in  which  we  have  been  en- 
gaged, and  that  is  no  common  conclusion  which  it  hath  had 
in  view.  It  is  no  controversy  with  the  opinions  of  an  an- 
tagonist, whose  undefended  sides  you  might  lay  bare,  and 
whose  weapons  you  might  turn  against  himself.  You  have 
no  advantages  from  his  unskilfulness  or  rashness,  and  you 
have  no  incitement  from  any  personal  interest  in  the  strug- 
gle. For  it  is  a  question  with  all  the  doubts  and  objections 
of  the  hesitating  mind.  We  stand  to  the  post  both  of  im- 
pugning and  defending  the  great  thesis  of  Judgment  to 
Come, — a  double  capacity,  which  requires  a  double  exercise 
of  fairness  and  justice.  We  have  both  to  excite  the  hesita- 
tions of  the  mind  and  to  allay  them  again;  so  that  our  inge- 
nuity is  doubly  tasked,  and  we  feel  often  in  a  divided  state. 
For  it  hath  been  our  wish  to  deal  wisely  between  the  reasoa 
of  man  and  the  revelation  of  God,  steering  wide  of  the 
coarseness  and  cruelty  with  which  dogmatical  theologians 
ride  over  the  head  of  every  natural  feeling  and  reasonable 
thought  of  doubting  men — remembering  the  poverty  of  our 
own  understanding,  and  attributing  whatever  we  possess  to 
the  free  and  unmerited  gift  of  God.  To  occupy  this  ground 
of  mediating  the  matter  in  dispute  between  the  reasoning 
power  of  man  and  the  revelation  of  Almighty  God,  we 
may  have  given  oiTence  to  both;  to  the  one,  for  not  having 
done  its  difficulties  justice  in  the  statement  or  the  resolu- 
tion; to  the  other,  for  having  too  daringly  intermeddled  and 
interfered  with  the  secrecy  and  sacredness  of  its  counsels. 
We  are  weak  and  feeble-minded  like  other  men,  and  little 
acquainted  with  such  high  discourse,  begirt  also  with  mani- 

40 


BIO  *  OF  JUDGMENT    TO   COME. 

fold  engagements,  and  invaded  with  the  noise  of  this  un- 
resting place;  and  therefore  we  hope  from  the  sympathy  of 
our  fellow  mortals,  forgiveness  for  any  injustice  we  have 
shown  them;  and  we  shall  seek  from  the  secret  ear  of  our 
God  that  forgiveness  for  which  he  is  to  be  feared,  and  that 
redemption  for  which  he  is  to  be  sought  after. 

In  casting  our  eye  back  over  the  eight  preceding  parts  of 
our  Argument,  to  review  it  all,  we  discern  some  passages 
in  which  we  have  spoken  with  liberty  of  men  who  still  live 
under  thtir  Maker's  good  providence  and  within  the  reach 
of  his  tender  mercy.     These  we   could  easily  expunge   or 
now  soften  down,  or  make  atonement  for;  but  we  will  not, 
we  cannot — For,  our  ztal  towards  God  and  the  common 
good  hath  been  stung  almost  into  madness  by  the  writings 
of  reproachable  men,  who  give  the  tone  to  the  sentimental 
and  the  political  world.     Their  poems,  their  criticisms  and 
their  blasphemous  pamphlets,  have  been  like  gall  and  worm- 
wood to  my  spirit,  and    I  have  longed  to  summon  into  the 
field  some  arm  of  strength  which  might  evaporate  their  vile 
and  filthy  speculation  mto  the  limbo  of  vanity,  from  which 
it  .came.      For  which  office,  being  satisfied  that  nothing  less 
than  omnipotent  truth  under  leading  of  Almighty  God  will 
suffice,  I  am  weary  of  the  v?in  infliction  of  pains  and  pe- 
nalties by  the  ruling  powers,  which  doth  but  aggravate  the 
evil,  by  awakening  sympathy  in  the  bosom  of  all  who  dread 
that  power  should  ever  intermeddle  with  the  free  circulation 
of  thought.  Seeing  that  Truth,  which  I  revere,  thus  wound- 
ed both  by  friends  and  foes,  I  could  not  rest,  but  have  spo- 
ken out  my  feelings  wherever  occasion  offered,  at  the  risk 
of  offending  the  workers  of  evil,  and  those  who  by  brute 
power  endeavour  to  counterwork  them.     I  have  done  so,  I 
say;  not  that  I  am  equal  to  the  task,  or  have  executed  the 
task,  but  in  the   hope  of  summoning   from  the  host  of  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  some  one  (surely  I  cannot  be  mistaken  that 
there  are  some  such!)  able  and  willing  to  take  the  field  in 
the  fair  conflict  of  truth,  and  cast  back  into  these  blasphem- 
ing throats  their  vain  bravadoes  against  the  armies  of  the 
living  God.     One  such  spirit  would  do  us  more  good  than 
all  the   prosecutions  and  suppressions  which  all  the  law-au- 
thorities of  the  realm  can  carry  into  effect. — But  I  fear  the 
worst;  that  the  intrigues  of  policy  and  the  weight  of  power 
will  in   this   age   totally   expel   from   the   two   established 
churches  all  the  vigour  and  virtue  of  mind  from  which  such 
apologies  can  alone  proceed.     And  sometimes  I  Jiope  the 
best;  that,  through  the  Spirit  of  God  working  better  under- 


©P  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  311 

steinding  upon  those  powerful  men  who  at  present  outwit 
religion  with  their  policies  and  strangle  her  with  their 
power,  the  noble  spirit  which  now  lieth  depressed  in  both, 
and  especially  in  this  establishment  of  England,  will  be  ex- 
tricated, and  the  Newtons  and  Scotts,  who  still  watch  in 
her  corners,  will  yet  have  wide  sees  to  administer  and  pro- 
vinces to  watch  over.  Which  renovation,  alas!  long  linger- 
eth,  and  the  enemy  taketh  advantage  of  its  tardiness.  But 
if  it  linger  much  longer,  1  hope,  ere  this  realm,  which  is 
faint  at  both  extremes,  grows  sick  at  the  heart  and  threatens 
to  lay  down  its  heavenly  spirit  of  religion,  some  of  those 
men  who  in  our  senates  do  both  know  and  seek  the  Lord, 
will  lift  up  their  voice,  and  make  the  calamity  of  England's 
and  Scotland's  wasted  parishes  and  faded  provinces  to  be 
heard  in  the  ears  of  those  whom  God  hath  appointed  to  rule 
them  in  righteousness  and  in  holiness. — Or  do  they  mean 
to  wait  until  we  fall  into  the  condition  of  prostrate  Ireland? 
No,  that  can  never  be;  for,  long  ere  then,  the  generous  spi- 
rit of  the  South  and  the  indignant  spirit  of  the  North  will 
have  eased  them  of  those  who  trouble  their  prosperity. 

Thus  again  I  am  betrayed  by  my  feelings  into  these  di- 
gressions for  which  I  meant  only  to  explain  the  cogent  rea- 
sons. But  let  them  all  pass,  and  bring  what  good  or  ill  the 
Lord  may  please.— -And  now  to  Return  to  our  review  of 
what  hath  been  said: 

We  seem  to  ourselves,  allowing  for  these  occasional  di- 
gressions, to  have  kept  with  sufficient  constancy  to  the  mat- 
ter of  our  discourse,  and  to  have  brought  the  subject  to  a 
good  termination,  arguing  strictly  according  to  the  plan  we 
chose  and  laid  out  at  the  beginning;  and  if  we  mistake  not, 
we  have  kept  generally  within  the  sight  and  experience  of 
common  minds.  All  abstract  discourse  upon  responsibility 
in  general,  and  the  freedom  or  necessity  of  the  human  will, 
we  have  avoided;  not  out  of  terror  of  that  marlstroom  in  the 
ocean  of  thought,  but  because  it  is  too  nice  a  question  to  be 
handled  by  the  way,  and  when  it  is  taken  up,  should  occcu- 
py  the  whole  diligence  of  the  mind.  But  instead  of  such 
metaphysical  discourse,  we  entered  upon  the  inductive  and 
experimental  inquiry.  How  the  nature  of  man  accorded 
with  a  state  of  responsibility,  and  discovered  that  in  no  one 
of  its  relationships  was  it  found  devoid  thereof,  but  acceded 
to  it  with  a  constant  choice,  as  the  very  buckler  of  its  so- 
cial existence.  Then  we  passed,  to  inquire  what  right  God 
had  to  lay  the  human  race  under  control,  and  what  was  the 
character  of  that  responsibility  under  which  he  hath  actu- 


il2  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

ally  placed  them.  His  claim  rested  upon  the  whole  struc- 
ture and  sustenance  of  our  estate,  and  his  intention  was  to 
multiply  the  nobleness  and  happiness  of  our  being.  For 
which  end,  he  hath  in  his  mercy  granted  to  us  a  constitu- 
tion of  law  and  government  to  live  under;  which  we  next 
passed  on  to  peruse  and  consider. 

Here  there  opened  upon  us  a  wide  field  of  ethical  and 
political  discourse,  into  which  we  followed  the  train  and 
leading  of  our  argument.  The  largeness  of  divine  law, 
compassing  every  province  of  purity,  came  under  our  re- 
view; the  unmeasurable  requirements  of  Christ's  discipline, 
the  unanswerable  demands  of  his  judgment,  the  inquisition 
of  conscience,  with  the  purer  inquisition  of  God.  I  hese 
considering  well,  our  mind  was  staggered  not  a  little,  and 
we  applied  ourselves  to  discover  the  profitableness  and  the 
fitness  of  an  institution  so  incommensurate  with  the  limited 
powers  of  man.  Which  application  it  pleased  the  Lord  to 
reward  to  the  satisfaction  of  ourselves,  and  we  hope  the 
profiting  of  others.  For  it  did  appear,  that  while  the  heart- 
searching  pureness  and  divine  simplicity  of  the  institution 
answered,  both  to  enlighten  the  eye  of  conscience  and  to 
awaken  the  enthusiasm  of  the  heart  after  the  heroism  of 
holiness,  the  deficiencts  and  defalcations  into  which  nature 
fell,  were  hindered  from  oppressing  the  heart  with  fear  of 
judgment  and  horror  of  condemnation.  It  did  appear,  that 
the  divine  invocation  which  it  sung  over  every  good  faculty 
was  like  the  songs  of  patriotism  to  an  oppressed  land, 
bringing  forth  the  generous,  the  just  and  the  good,  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  base,  the  malicious  and  the  wicked; 
making  a  noble  insurrection  within  the  breast  for  the  old 
original  condition  of  the  soul:  while  the  high  abstractions 
of  purity,  to  which  every  energy  was  summoned  forth,  did 
come  to  awaken  and  nourish  that  longing  which  there  is  in 
human  nature  to  pass  into  the  perfect,  and  return  again  into 
the  embrace  of  an  unfallen  existence.  And  the  inspection 
of  conscience  did  make  us  supreme  masters  of  ourselves, 
and  elevate  us  into  the  cognizance  of  the  Almighty's  eye, 
abstracting  us  altogether  from  the  watching  of  the  laws  and 
the  customs  and  the  authority  of  man;  making  every  one  a 
state  wiihin  himself,  better  regulated  of  law  and  warded  of 
police  than  the  most  free  or  the  most  despotic  state  upon 
earth;  laying  not  only  the  foundations,  but  completing  the 
structure  of  the  good  citizen,  the  good  friend,  the  good  re- 
lative, and  the  good  man.  Being  satisfied  upon  the  great 
purchase   which  such  a  spiritual  institution  takes  upon  the 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  3l3 

spirit  of  man  to  raise  it  to  dignity  and  honour,  we  then  gave 
ourselves  to  canvass  the  provision  which  it  makes  for  our. 
deficiences,  and  to  sound  this  question  to  the  very  bottom. 

Thereto  we  made  trial,  in  the  opening  of  our  I'hird  Sec- 
tion, of  various  suggestions  which  nature  presenteth  from 
her  own  stores,  and  which  men  are  wont  to  uphold  as  a 
sufficient  account  of  this  matter.  These  having  tried  upon 
principles  of  law,  and  exhibited  their  total  inadequacy  to 
any  end,  except  to  the  end  of  making  law  and  responsibility 
altogrther  void,  we  came  to  the  great  disclosure  of  Christ 
sacrificed  for  the  sins  of  men.  And  here  we  wandered, 
well  pleased,  in  a  glorious  field  which  we  had  no  leisure 
nor  abihty  to  disclose  to  others,  though,  we  trust,  God  hath 
made  it  profitable  to  ourselves  falas!  how  little !J  And  we 
showed  how  this  glorious  revelation  of  the  Gospel  of  peace 
took  a  pleasant,  powerful  hold  upon  all  our  affections  and 
all  our  interests,  sustaining  and  promoting  all  the  enthusi- 
asm which  the  pure  law  had  awakened;  how  it  fed  the  lamp 
of  knov/ledge  with  oil  from  heaven,  and  enlightened  the 
whole  house,  and  set  all  useful  works  on  foot;  how  it  awa- 
kened, how  it  cheered,  how  it  pressed  us  forward.  Ah!  it 
is  sweet  to  speculate  upon  these  glorious  themes!  we  are 
sorry  it  is  drawing  to  a  close;  we  could  gladly  renew  all  that 
hath  been  done — burn  these  papers,  only  to  renew  them 
again,  but  that  the  occupations  of  life  are  so  many.  Then, 
feeling  within  our  souls  an  enthusiasm  arise  for  God,  we 
did  invoke,  as  Elijah  did  of  old,  all  the  priests  of  Baal  to 
the  contest,  and  call  upon  them  to  kindle  such  a  flame  in 
the  cold  bosom  of  man,  such  an  enthusiasm  after  holiness, 
as  this  which  glowed  beneath  the  feeding  hand  of  God — 
which  invocation  of  the  Antichristian  people  we  again  re- 
peat, praying  them  right  early  to  lay  down  within  compass 
their  scheme  for  raising  fallen  man,  and  making  him  great 
and  good,  and  we  pledge  ourselves  to  give  it  the  same  im- 
partial trial  of  reason  and  understanding  which  we  have 
given  unto  this. 

Meanwhile,  we  doubt  not  our  reader  thought  the  wheels 
of  our  argument  moved  but  slowly  on  to  the  great  question 
of  Judgment  to  Come.  Nevertheless  we  deemtd  it  expe- 
dient to  indulge  our  humour  another  turn;  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bestirring  the  God-forgetting  spirit  of  this  age's 
policy,  we  adventured  into  the  thorny  path  of  man's  politi- 
cal well-being,  and  endeavoured  to  study  how  this  constitu- 
tion tended  to  the  remedy  of  its  ills.  And  here,  as  before, 
we  reaped  the  fruit  of  our  labour,  finding  it  to  be  the  long- 


314  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

sought  remedy  of  personal  and  political  disorders,  regene- 
rating the  sluggish  and  taming  the  fiery,  and  setting  every 
subject  of  the  realm  into  the  position  which  is  most  easy  to 
a  good  governor,  and  most  terrible  to  a  bad  one;  all  which 
we  proved  by  the  induction  of  many  cases,  and  by  the  in- 
effectual struggles  which  have  been  made  and  are  making 
at  social  improvement,  without  this  necessary  implement  of 
Religion.  Oh!  in  this  crisis  of  the  world,  when  thrones  are 
shaken,  and  nations  arc  arising  to  the  work  of  terrible  re- 
venge, and  all  things  are  unsettled,  Oh!  thou  almighty  ruler 
of  the  destinies  of  men,  make  the  voice  of  truth  to  be  heard 
by  the  raging  people,  and  guide  them  into  those  measures 
which  will  ensure  their  success,  and  make  Thy  name  glori- 
ous over  the  slavery  and  idolatry  in  which  the  nations  are 
held. 

Having  thus  justified  the  constitution  to  which  (iod  hath 
made  man  responsible,  both  as  to  its  necessity,  its  wisdom, 
and  its  good  effects,  we  then  felt  ourselves  at  liberty  to 
lanch  upon  the  great  question  of  the  Future  Judgment. 
Yet  cautiously  and  thoughtfully,  as  one  who  had  the  con- 
viction of  wakeful  reason  to  win.  Therefore,  we  held  a 
parley  upon  preliminaries,  and  gave  her  a  fair  field  of  ob- 
jections, and  fair  liberty  to  complain.  We  took  her  doubts, 
her  rights,  her  very  prejudices  into  account,  to  allay  which 
we  had  to  entertain  large  discussion  upon  many  profound 
questions,  over  which  some  may  think  a  shadow  of  indis- 
tinctness reigns.  Here  it  was  that  we  began  to  feel  the 
limitation  of  our  powers.  We  had  to  forsake  the  realms  of 
light,  and  carry  the  vision  of  our  minds  into  the  obscure  of 
the  middle  state:  we  felt  a  light  and  a  shadow  upon  our 
thoughts;  they  stood  not  constantly,  but  they  came  by  glimp- 
ses, and  when  we  sought  to  write  them  down,  they  were 
gone.  Whether,  if  thinking  men  should  ever  again  be  con- 
ditioned as  the  ancient  sages  were,  meditating  and  musing 
like  Pythagoras  in  the  deep  groves  of  Crotona,  or  like  Pla- 
to, sending  from  the  sacred  promontory  of  Sunium  his 
speculation  abroad  into  boundless  regions,  they  might  not 
by  the  new  aids  of  revelation  bring  forth  out  of  these  un- 
seen dwellings  of  the  disembodied  spirit  some  light  of  cer- 
tain understanding,  I  do  not  know;  but  while  thus  they  live 
and  act  under  ten  thousand  invasions,  buried  in  sensual 
gratifications,  or  floating  amongst  ambitious  vanities  and 
courting  earthly  distinctions,  seeking  chariots  and  horses, 
and  costly  abodes  and  delicious  entertainment,  it  is  vain  to 
think  that  either  poet  or  philosopher  or  divine  will  make 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  315 

any  invasions  upon  these  unredeemed  provinces  of  thought, 
or  even  follow  the  flights  which  the  more  pure  and  self-de- 
nied spirits  of  former  ages  have  taken.  There  is  one  man 
in  these  realms  who  hath  addressed  himself  to  such  a  god- 
like life,  and  dwelt  alone  amidst  the  grand  and  lovely  scenes 
of  nature,  and  the  deep,  unfathomable  secrecies  of  human 
thought.  Would  to  heaven  it  were  allowed  to  others  to  do 
likewise!  And  he  hath  been  rewarded  with  many  new  co- 
gitations of  nature  and  of  nature's  God,  and  he  hath  heard, 
in  the  stillness  of  his  retreat,  many  new  voices  of  his  con- 
scious spirit — all  which  he  hath  sung  in  harmonious  num- 
bers. But,  mark  the  Epicurean  soul  of  this  degraded  age! 
They  have  frowned  on  him;  they  have  spit  on  him;  they 
have  grossly  abused  him.  The  masters  of  this  critical  ge- 
neration (like  generation,  like  masters!)  have  raised  the  hue 
and  cry  against  him;  the  literary  and  sentimental  world, 
which  is  their  sounding-board,  hath  reverberated  it;  and 
every  reptile  who  can  retail  an  opinion  in  print,  hath  spread 
it,  and  given  his  reputation  a  shock,  from  which  it  is  slowly 
recovering. — All  for  what?  For  making  nature  and  his 
own  bosom  his  home,  and  daring  to  sing  of  the  simple  but 
sublime  truths  which  were  revealed  to  him;  for  daring  to 
be  free  in  his  manner  of  uttering  genuine  feeling  and  de- 
picting natural  beauty,  and  grafting  thereon  devout  and 
solemn  contemplations  of  God.  Had  he  sent  his  Cottage 
Wanderer  forth  upon  an  excursion  amongst  courts  and 
palaces,  battle-fields,  and  scenes  of  fiiithless  gallantry,  his 
musings  would  have  been  more  welcome,  being  far  deeper 
and  tenderer  than  those  of  *  the  heartless  Childe;'  but  be- 
cause the  man  hath  valued  virtue,  and  retiring  modesty,  and 
common  household  truth,  over  these  the  ephemeral  decora- 
tions or  excessive  depravities  of  our  condition,  therefore  he 
is  hated  and  abused!  All  which  I  go  aside  to  mention,  in 
order  to  find  for  the  cloudy  indistinctness  of  those  prelimi- 
nary thoughts  of  Judgment  some  apology  in  the  active 
bustling  spirit  of  this  age,  and  especially  of  this  my  pro- 
fession, of  which  every  individual  is  in  some  measure  the 
slave,  and  of  which  slavery  I  feel  too  much  the  influence. 
This  life  I  feel  to  be  neither  an  Apostolic  nor  a  philosophic 
life.  It  hath  in  it  no  q^iietness,  no  retirement,  no  contem- 
plation. It  is  driven  on  by  duty.  The  spur  of  engagement 
ever  galleth  it.  There  is  no  free  bounding  of  the  mind 
along  the  high  courses  of  thought.  And  a  narrow  style  of 
opinions  hath  set  in  upon  free  thought,  like  a  stream  con- 
fined within  bounds,  which  teareth  up  and  delugeth  all  the 


316  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

open  plain.  And  a  hot  zeal  for  orthodoxy  consumetk 
speculation  up,  or  fretteth  it  into  madness;  and  the  canker 
hath  eaten  so  deep  into  the  judgments  of  men,  that  I  ques-> 
tion  whether  any  one  will  regard  these  lamentations  in  any- 
better  light  than  the  murmurs  of  a  discontented,  or  the  re- 
veries of  an  unintelligible,  mind; — therefore,  lest  in  apolo- 
gizing for  mystery,  I  should  double  the  crime,  I  hasten  for- 
ward in  the  review  of  my  argument,  which  had  advanced 
through  the  Preliminaries  of  Judgment  to  the  Judgment 
itself. 

In  a  subject  so  unbounded  as  the  abjudication  to  all  men 
of  their  proper  allotments  of  praise  and  blame,  of  reward 
and  punishment,  the  danger  was,  that  imagination  should 
keep  no  bound,  or  that  enumeration  should  have  no  end. 
Against  which  evils  to  guard  our  discourse,  we  deemed  it 
best  to  hold  to  some  one  description  of  the  judgment  re- 
corded in  Scripture.    Choosing  for  this  end  the  description 
of  our  Lord  in  the  25th  chapter  of  Matthew,  we  did  our  en- 
deavour to  open  up  the  meaning  of  the  tests  there  given,  and 
apply  them  to  the  various  cases  of  men.  Simple  as  they  were^ 
we  found  them  to  contain  the  most  perfect  proofs  of  attach- 
ment to  Christ,  implying  no  less  than  an  adherence  to  him 
and  his  interests  in  the  face  of  the  six  great  perils  of  human 
life,  and  a  contentment  for  his  sake  to  forego  all  gain  and 
undergo  all  loss.     We  f(»und  also,  that  not  only  did  it  fur- 
nish a  perfect  test  of  attachment,  but  also  a  rule  of  univer- 
sal application  for  the  judging  of  ourselves.   For,  seeing  the 
great  spring  of  all  our  activity  is  to  escape  from  these  six 
evils,  hunger,  thirst,  nakedness,  sickness,  forlornness  and 
confinement;   and  to  reach   the  six  opposite  goods,  meat, 
drink,  clothing,  health,  friends  and  libirty;  we  are  ever  cal- 
led to  account,  upon  the  sttrps  we  have  taken  to  make  these 
fortunate  passages,  and  we  are  reminded  that  the  interests 
of  Christ,  or  his  least  brother,  are  not  to  suffer  upon  any 
account.    If  these  interests  be  postponed  to  the  other,  then 
we  prefer  the  good  conilition  without  Christ  to  the  bad  con- 
dition with  him;  we  cast  him  off,  because  of  the  evil  plight 
in  which  we  find  him,  and  into  which  he  might  happen  to 
lead  us.     So  that,  though  we  should  live  in  an  age  where 
there  were  neither  Christian,  orphans,  sick,  nor  prisoners, 
we  were  as  able  to  bring  ourselves  to  the  bar  as  if  the  church 
were  again  labouring  under  her  six  great  disabilities;  having 
only  to  observe  the  spirit  in  which  we  prosecuted  the  amend- 
ment of  our  worldly  estate,  whether  in  subservience  to  Christ 
or  not.     This  principle  of  Judgment  being  developed,  wc 


OP   JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  317 

then  passed  on  to  apply  it  to  various  conditions  of  men,  that 
we  might  show  how  simple  and  efficient  it  is  for  the  intend- 
ed purpose.  Here  our  subject  properly  concluded;  but  we 
thought  it  good  to  advert  to  two  prejudices,  one  existing 
within,  the  other  existing  without,  the  church.  The  former 
presuming  that  orthodox  faith,  the  latter  that  our  worldly  ac- 
complishments, would  carry  a  certain  weight — the  one  view 
narrow,  the  other  erroneous.  For  without  faith  in  Christ, 
which  is  a  belief  of  that  he  set  himself  forth  to  be,  there  can 
be  no  affection  generated,  and  consequently  no  sacrifices 
made;  but  the  affection  being  once  evidenced  by  the  sacri- 
fices, there  needeth  no  further  inquiry  into  the  faith,  which 
then  hath  served  all  its  use.  As  to  worldly  accomplishments, 
which  have  no  relation  to  Christ,  we  abjured  them  utterly 
from  Christian  judgment.  They  have  their  reward  from 
men  in  time;  but  if  a  reward  from  God  in  eternity  is  wanted, 
it  must  be  sought  after  his  way,  not  after  our  own.  Thus 
having  opened  up,  applied,  and  justified  the  tests  of  acquit- 
tal and  condemnation,  we  were  in  a  state  to  pass  on  to  the 
issues  of  Judgment. 

In  treating  which,  we  endeavoured  to  keep  from  a  coarse 
vulgar  sensuality  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  weak,  refined  sen- 
timent on  the  other; — giving  to  heaven  and  hell  some  intel- 
ligible form,  and  some  identity  with  the  present  good  and 
bad  of  human  Conditions.  For  almost  all  Christians,  in  their 
eagerness  to  keep  the  spirit  of  our  faith  free  from  Heathen 
and  Mahomedan  superstitions,  have  set  forth  nothing  tan- 
gible upon  the  subject  of  future  conditions.  Their  heaven 
is  the  heaven  of  a  metaphysician  or  a  devotee,  not  of  a  man; 
their  hell  a  bugbear  only  to  children.  In  our  endeavour  to 
give  breadth  of  exposition  to  this  subject,  we  kept  as  close 
as  possible  to  the  revelation,  and  sought  merely  to  become 
its  interpreters.  Having  drawn  our  sketches  to  the  best  of 
our  ability,  we  then  went  at  length  into  the  question  of  their 
duration,  resting  it  upon  positive  revelation,  upon  the  analo- 
gies of  the  Christian  system,  upon  the  nature  of  God,  and 
the  nature  of  sin  as  known  from  experience; — and  with  this 
ended  our  argument  of  Judgment  to  Come,  of  which  we 
came  then  to  exhibit  the  Conclusion. 

But,  whereas  it  might  fare  to  some  readers  to  be  excited 
by  those  terrible  pictures  which  we  were  fain  to  draw,  and 
to  cry  out.  What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved?  we  thought  it 
would  not  be  amiss  to  interpose  an  inquiry  upon  the  way  of 
escape  from  the  wrath  to  come.  Here  we  felt  it  needful  to 
shake  nature  again  out  of  her  insecure  refuges,  before  open- 

41 


318  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

ing  up  the  only  city  of  refuge  that  holdeth  good  against  the 
terrible  day  of  the  Lord,  which  is  a  life  devoted  to  holiness, 
a  new  birth,  and  a  spiritual  life.  To  bring  this  style  of  liv- 
ing prominently  forth,  we  took  a  distinction  between  spiritu- 
al life  and  the  three  ordinary  states  of  natural  life;  life  sen- 
sual, intellectual,  and  moral;  establishing  from  the  very  con- 
stitution of  each,  that  all,  save  the  first,  were  linked  to  the 
body,  the  world  and  human  society,  must  dissolve  with  their 
dissolution;  and  have  in  them  neither  the  intention  of,  nor 
provision  for  any  thing  beyond.  Now,  as  it  might  happen 
to  many  a  reader  not  to  possess  this  spiritual  life,  we  felt 
bound  by  an  interest  in  their  souls  to  open  up  its  two  great 
sources  (two  they  are  regarded,  but  they  are  only  one,)  the 
Word  and  Spirit  of  God.  Here  we  felt  trammelled  and  con- 
fined by  crude  and  insufficient  notions  popular  in  the  church- 
es: but  we  did  not  flinch  from  the  utterance  of  the  truth,  as 
we  believe  it,  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  Not  that  we 
provoke  controversy,  but  that  we  love  truth,  and  wish  to 
see  the  confused  mind  of  the  people  set  to  rights  upon  the 
true  source  and  origin  of  spiritual  life.  Having  joined  in 
harmony  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  God,  to  disunite  which,  is 
to  deforce  the  power  of  both,  we  feel  at  liberty  again,  and 
now  proceed  to  wind  up  and  conclude  the  whole. 

Now,  then,  let  me  draw  this  argument  to  a  close,  and  cast 
myself,  as  it  were  sword  in  hand,  on  the  strengths  into  which 
nature  shuts  herself  up  against  all  access  of  the  thoughts  of 
death,  judgment,  and  eternity:  but  no!  rather  let  me  hold 
one  other  parley  with  the  garrison,  before  I  bring  it  to  the 
desperate  extremity  of  the  forlorn  hope. 

Well  then,  once  more  hear  me  with  a  willing  ear.  Sup- 
pose our  shores  were  visited,  as  have  been  those  of  a  deep- 
ly injured  land,  visited  every  now  and  then  by  the  trans- 
porting vessels  of  a  remorseless,  resistless  enemy,  who  seiz- 
ed all  arrived  at  a  certain  age,  bound  them  hand  and  foot, 
had  them  to  their  boats,  made  sail,  and  were  no  more  seen 
till  they  came  for  another  cargo  of  human  flesh.  Our  pa- 
rents, our  kindred,  our  friends,  upon  whom  we  hang,  and 
in  whose  bosoms  we  are  established  by  ties  too  fearfully 
strong,  grow  up  around  us,  approach  the  changeful  term  of 
years,  touch  it,  and  are  lanched  off  across  the  ocean,  whither 
no  eye  can  follow  them,  out  of  all  reach  of  inquiry  and  of 
affection;  the  ears  of  the  enemy  being  deaf  to  intercession  as 
the  ear  of  death,  and  their  tongue  mute  to  explanation  as 
the  voice  of  the  grave.  Thus  suppose  it  to  fare  with  any 
people,  ties  growing  stronger  to  be  the  more  cruelly  rent 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  319 

asunder,  ourselves  at  length  to  be  parted  from  our  dear 
homes  and  dearer  children.  Thus  abused,  the  people  re- 
main from  year  to  year  in  deepest  misery  about  their  part- 
ed friends,  in  deepest  grief  over  themselves,  soon  to  be 
parted.  Now  conceive  that  some  gallant  brave  one  upon  the 
other  side  of  the  oft-navigated  gulf,  taking  pity  upon  the 
poor  people  beyond,  and  upon  the  calamitous  case  to  which 
they  were  brought,  moved  with  a  most  adventurous  spirit 
of  love,  should  steal  away  by  night,  cut  out  a  frail  pinnace, 
night  and  day  navigate  the  dread  expanse,  and  after  unheard 
of  endurance,  set  upon  our  shores  the  only  friendly  foot  that 
ever  came  from  that  quarter  of  the  compass.  He  makes 
known  whence  he  came,  and  upon  what  errand;  we  crowd 
down  to  his  presence,  he  shows  us  tokens  of  our  friends, 
and  convinceth  us  he  hath  truly  come  from  amongst  them 
— he  tells  us  they  still  live — he  tells  us  the  people  die  not 
on  the  other  side  the  sea,  but  live  for  evermore — he  tells  us, 
that  so  soon  as  they  arrive,  they  are  mustered,  and  put  to  a 
certain  proof — that  those  who  stand  the  proof  become  the 
freemen,  the  masters,  the  rulers  of  the  region,  and  bless  the 
day  they  were  forced  out  of  places  where  the  image  of  hap- 
piness is  never  seen,  into  a  place  which  its  true  form  and 
balmy  essence  never  forsake  them.  He  tells,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  those  who  stood  not  the  proof  were  made  thralls 
of,  slaves,  basest  bondsmen,  to  be  tasked,  and  driven  without 
mercy  and  without  hope,  aye  enduring,  and  aye  able  to  en- 
dure, aye  grieving,  and  never  hopeful  of  deliverance.  What, 
what  is  that  most  fearful  proof,  upon  which  hangeth  such 
diversity  of  fate?  tell  us,  tell  us  quickly,  they  would  all  ex- 
claim. Then  he  opens  his  mouth,  and  reveals  the  mighty 
truth,  that  there  is  no  chance  of  delivering  them  from  trans- 
portation, that  there  is  no  chance  of  altering  the  laws  upon 
the  other  side,  that  all  he  can  do  is  to  bring  them  intelli- 
gence, and  put  it  in  their  power  to  pass  the  fiery^trial.  They 
all  exclaim  again — What  is  that  terrible  trial  upoa  which 
destiny  hangs?  He  puts  his  hand  to  his  bosom,  and  he^akes 
from  it  a  book,  and  he  delivers  that  book  to  the  people,  and 
calls  it  the  Testament  to  them  in  his  blood.  And  having 
done  so,  he  drops  down  dead  of  his  fatigue  and  endurance 
upon  their  account.  Describe  to  me  the  agony  of  gratitude, 
and  admiration,  and  grief,  in  the  bosoms  of  that  highly-fa- 
voured nation.  Hut  they  have  not  time  to  indulge  their  deep- 
ly-moved feelings.  Another  fatal  shipment  may  be  instantly 
called  for,  they  sit  down  to  the  far-borne  book  to  embalm 
it  in  their  memory.  They  find,  to  their  happiness,  that  it  is 


S20  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

plain,  and  level  to  every  capacity;  that  it  hangs  the  fatal  test 
upon  neither  rank,  riches,  nor  talents,  but  upon  qualities 
which  all,  by  discipline,  may  easily  acquire;  that  it  describes 
in  terms  most  joyful  the  admitted,  in  terms  most  doleful  the 
rejected — but  opens  a  passage  to  all.  And  finally  they  dis- 
cover, that  he  who  bore  it  was  no  less  than  the  King's  only 
and  honoured  Son,  and  that  they  shall  meet  him  upon  the 
other  side,  where  he  is  taking  order  for  their  reception. 
Now  is  the  grief  of  that  dark  and  afflicted  people  turned  in- 
to joy — their  mourning  into  singing,  they  are  all  bustle  and 
all  activity  to  get  ready:  they  study  the  book,  they  seek  the 
qualifications,  they  teach  it  to  their  children,  they  disperse 
it  far  and  wide  throughout  the  land,  and  the  heart  of  the 
land  is  matle  glad.  Ard  in  all  these  songs  of  gladness  they 
sing  of  him  who  came  to  save  and  brirng  deliverance. 

Such  a  shipment  of  souls  is  going  on  amongst  us,  and, 
to  make  it  more  frightful,  not  at  stated,  but  uncertain  sea- 
sons— not  at  one  age,  but  at  every  age.  Such  a  messenger 
has  come — such  a  treat  he  has  revealed — such  an  eternal 
diversity  of  fates  he  hath  taught — such  a  writing  of  the. 
needful  outfit  he  hath  left  and  spread  abroad,  making  the 
high  places  of  the  region  patent  to  men  of  every  kindred 
and  every  tongue.  Hath  it  stirred  within  us  a  spirit  of  in- 
quiry and  emotion?  Hath  it  relieved  us  from  a  state  of 
agony  and  suspense?  Have  our  ears  drunk  in  the  intelli- 
gences? Hath  our  eye  conned  the  far-borne  volume?  Have 
we  been  busy  providing  the  needful  passport?  Are  we 
standing  on  tip-toe  expectation  of  release?  Is  his  name 
who  bore  it  dear  as  its  salvation  upon  our  souls?  Is  he 
acknowledged  in  all  our  hopes,  beloved  in  all  our  loves,  and 
desired  in  all  our  desires  of  the  glorious  things  which  he 
brought  to  light? 

Seeing  we  have  all  to  pass  through  the  same  ordeal  of 
death  which  our  Saviour  passed,  and  to  explore  the  un- 
known land  beyond  it,  from  which  he  alone  returned,  it  be- 
hoves us  to  apply  to  him  for  advice  upon  the  best  outfit  for 
the  journey.  He  alone  doth  know,  for  he  alone  hath  seen. 
Our  own  fancies  are  dubious,  and  may  prove  as  wide  of 
the  truth  when  we  awaken  upon  the  long  day  of  eternity, 
as  our  visions  upon  our  pillow  do  seem  in  the  morning. 
Neither  let  us  be  directed  by  the  fancies  of  other  men,  who 
see  no  further  beyond  death  than  we  do.  The  land  is  a 
new  land,  to  the  nature  of  which  you  and  I  and  all  men  are 
strangers.  It  lies,  like  a  wide  dark  ocean,  spread  around 
the  little  island  of  life  whereon  we  sojourn.     A  dark  impe- 


OF  JUDGMEiNT  TO  COME.  321 

netrable  curtain  shrouds  us  in,  of  which  the  sight  is  fearful, 
and  the  neighbourhood  appalling.  AH  men  are  moving  to- 
wards this  dark  verge  with  ceaseless  and  anxious  motion: 
and  sometimes  it  will  approach,  and  shroud  up  multitudes 
prematurely  in  its  invisible  womb — and  all  trace  of  them  is 
for  ever  gone:  it  flits  and  shifts  before  us  with  fearful  in- 
certitude, and  no  man  laying  himself  down  at  night  is  sure 
that  he  will  rise  again  in  the  morning  among  his  friends 
and  in  his  native  land.  But  though  it  shift  awhile,  this 
gloomy  bourne  ot  our  pilgrimage  hath  an  unshifting  limit, 
behind  which  it  never  recedes.  And  soon  the  extreme  an- 
gle of  that  limit  is  reached  by  all.  On  we  move  in  endless 
succession,  helpless  as  the  sheep  to  the  slaughter;  and  the 
moment  we  touch  the  dark  confine,  we  disappear,  and  all 
clue  of  us  is  lost.  You  may  cry  aloud,  but  we  hear  and  an- 
swer not;  you  may  give  us  any  signal,  but  we  see  and  re- 
turn it  not.  No  voice  cometh  from  within  the  curtain;  all 
there  is  silent  and  unknown.  How  it  fares  with  them, 
whether  they  merge  at  once  into  another  country,  whether 
they  are  out  at  sea,  by  what  compass  and  map  they  steer, 
or  whether  they  are  lost  in  that  gulf  and  abyss  of  being  for 
evermore — no  man  for  thousands  and  thousands  of  years 
had  the  shadow  of  an  imagination.  It  was  very  mysterious; 
each  man  as  he  passed  '  shuflied  off  his  mortal  coil,'  left  us 
his  slough,  but  nothing  of  himself.  His  reason,  his  feeling, 
his  society,  his  love,  all  went  with  him:  here  with  us  was 
left  all  of  him  that  we  were  wont  to  see,  and  touch,  and 
handle.  How  he  could  exist  apart  from  these,  the  helps 
and  instruments  of  beings,  was  all  a  phantom  and  a  dream. 
The  existence,  if  existence  there  was,  no  human  faculties 
could  fix  a  thought  upon.  His  spirit,  if  spirit  there  were, 
takes  its  fate  in  cold  nakedness;  but  how  it  dwells,  or  feels, 
or  suffers,  or  enjoys,  when  thus  devested,  was  altogether  in- 
comprehensible. Why  then,  in  this  midnight  ignorance, 
should  w^e  apply  to  any  man  to  guide  us,  or  to  ourselves.^  it 
is  vanity.  Quit,  then,  with  such  presumptuous  trust,  and 
be  not  duped  with  their  blind  directions. 

Only  one  man,  of  the  myriads  who  passed  the  darksome 
veil,  returned;  he  passed  into  the  obscure,  in  the  obscure 
he  tarried,  and  like  the  rest  was  given  up  for  lost.  But 
forth  he  came  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength,  having  con- 
quered the  powers  beyond.  He  came  not  for  his  own  sake, 
but  for  ours;  to  give  us  note  and  warning  of  what  was  do- 
ing upon  the  other  side,  and  of  what  fare  we  were  to  ex- 
pect for  ever.     And  he  hath  laid  down  the  simplest  rules 


$2^  OF  JUDGMEiNT  TO  COME. 

to  guide  us  to  happiness  and  honour,  and  the  amplest  warn- 
ing to  keep  us  from  degradation  and  ruin.  In  the  name  of 
reason  and  consistency,  then,  to  whom  should  we  apply  but 
unto  him  who  knows  so  well,  and  was  never  known,  in  all 
he  said,  to  deceive — in  all  he  did,  to  injure.  To  him,  then, 
let  us  go  for  tuition.  And  most  surely,  he  is  the  kindest, 
most  afl'ectionate,  most  considerate  Teacher  that  ever 
breathed  the  breath  of  knowledge  over  helpless  ignorance. 
Away  then  with  our  own  conjectures,  away  with  the  con- 
jectures of  other  men,  however  wise  in  this  life!  they  know 
nothing  of  the  life  within  the  veil  which  shrouds  us  in.  Up 
then,  go  to  the  Scriptures,  which  he  uttered  of  himself,  or 
by  the  inspiration  of  his  Spirit;  there  let  us  be  stripped  of 
all  our  fancied  knowledge  of  things  which  we  know  not  in 
the  least.  Under  them  let  us  commence  a  new  childhood, 
a  new  scholarship  for  eternity,  and  we  shall  arrive  at  length 
at  that  Tbanhood  of  strength  and  knowledge  which  shall 
never  fall  away  into  the  dotage  or  searness  of  age,  and  shall 
survive  death,  and  convey  us  safe  through  the  unknown  to 
the  mansion  of  our  heavenly  Father,  which  our  great  fore- 
runner hath  gone  to  prepare  for  our  reception. 

I  do  remember,  some  few  years  ago,  to  have  been  resi- 
dent in  the  chief  commercial  city  of  Scotland,  at  a  time 
when  many  of  our  people  were  proposing,  from  stress  of 
times,  to  emigrate  to  the  Western  world.  A  year  had  to 
run  before  they  were  called  on  to  embark,  but  already  they 
were  busy  in  preparations  for  their  removal.  Their  thoughts 
were  turned  upon  the  distant  land;  they  questioned  you 
upon  its  productions,  they  circulated  the  letters  which  were 
received  from  it,  they  sought  hooks  that  treated  of  it,  they 
drew  out  the  regulations  of  their  little  colony,  disposed  of 
all  their  effects  which  would  cease  to  be  of  use,  and  re- 
placed them  with  others  that  would  be  serviceable  to  their 
new  residence  and  way  of  life.  But  what  preparation  doth 
man  make  beforehand  for  the  last  and  eternal  emigration  from 
his  earthly  home;  what  outfit  for  the  dreary  and  perilous 
passage;  what  disposal  of  time's  commodities  and  time's 
concerns;  and  what  new  store  of  those  spiritual  qualities 
which  are  needed  in  the  country  that  lieth  beyond  the  wa- 
ters of  death?  How  cruel,  to  lanch  the  immortal  spirits 
into  eternity  without  deliberation  and  without  resources, 
when  ample  stores  of  both  are  laid  out  in  the  word  of  God! 
How  weak  and  unresolved,  to  put  all  preparation  off  till  the 
body  is  breaking  up,  and  the  soul  trembling  on  the  wing 
for  she  knows  not  whither!    How  mad,  to  brave  the  King 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  3^3 

of  the  region,  the  Judge  and  Arbiter  of  the  condition  of 
disembodied  souls,  to  leave  his  epistles  unopened,  his  royal 
overtures  of  grace  unheeded!  How  pitiful,  to  be  occupied 
to  the  last,  to  the  very  last  gasp,  with  the  things  we  are 
leaving  behind,  which  can  profit  or  injure  us  no  more,  and 
are  fast  fading  into  unreclaimed  annihilation! 

If  death,  like  the  time  of  removal  to  a  new  dwelling-place, 
or  the  day  of  embarkation  for  a  foreign  shore,  were  dated, 
and  could  by  no  means  anticipate  its  fixed  term,  there  might 
be  reason  for  staving  off  the  preparation  for  Judgment  to  a 
distant  day,  space  being  left  for  all  needful  arrangement; 
but  coming,  as  it  often  doth,  like  a  watch  of  the  night,  and 
like  a  thief  in  the  night  invading  our  slumbering,  our  de- 
fenceless homes,  it  is  the  height  of  folly  and  of  rashness 
thus  to  live  undefended  and  unprepared.  I  mistake,  we 
are  defended,  but  we  are  not  prepared;  yes,  we  are  defend- 
ed: that  is,  the  physician  and  the  surgeon  pitch  their  tents 
hard  by,  and  at  the  fi4'st  onset  of  Death's  forerunners  they 
are  called  to  our  side  to  put  in  their  defences  against  the 
king  of  terrors.  They  put  their  defences  in,  but  what  doth 
it  avail?  To  mitigate  racking  pain,  or  by  a  sleepy  dose  to 
make  the  passage  more  tranquil;  or,  if  God  hath  intended 
but  a  warning,  not  a  summons,  then  they  are  his  instru- 
ments to  bring  convalescence  round.  But  to  stay  the  dart 
of  Death,  when  commission  from  on  high  hath  been  given 
him  to  strike,  they  pretend  no  more  than  they  do  to  call  the 
spirit  back  to  the  pale  clay  after  they  have  been  struck  with 
his  dart  asunder.  Ah!  it  grieves  me  to  see  men  live  so 
undefended  and  unprepared.  For  what  availeth  the  prepa- 
ration of  a  death-bed?  Nothing,  or  next  to  nothing.  Pro- 
testant priests  have  not,  like  Catholic  priests,  power  given 
them  to  discharge  a  man's  conscience  with  a  word,  or  cere- 
monious masses,  and  send  the  stained  soul,  pure  and  spot- 
less, to  meet  its  Maker.  This  is  only  yielded  to  the  suc- 
cessors of  St.  Peter.  Oh,  such  villany;  such  villany  they 
do  play  upon  the  dying  man,  and  upon  the  living,  thus,  thus 
to  cajole  them  out  of  life's  busy  healthy  day  with  the  delu- 
sion of  the  last  moment's  well-acted  scene.  Would  you  be 
so  duped  by  any  priest  of  them  all?  I  know  you  would  not. 
No,  you  would  not  allow  yourselves  to  be  another's  dupe; 
but  you  care  not  to  become  your  own.  Your  own  hands 
will  do  for  your  souls  the  evil  thing  which  you  will  not  suf- 
fer another  to  do.  You  will  do  the  fatal  deed  of  self-mur- 
der. For  I  solemnly  aver,  that  it  is  as  much  opposed  to  so- 
ber reason  thus  to  postpone  repentance  to  a  sick  bed's  hope- 


SBi  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

less  closing  scene,  and  to  trust  salvation  to  a  Protestant 
pastor's  prayer  in  the  latest  hour  of  gathering  darkness,  as 
to  give  all  over  to  the  elevation  of  the  holy  chalice  and  the 
swallowing  of  the  consecrated  wafer. 

Will  you  hear  me  one  moment  upon  that  which  repen- 
tance is,  and  thence  discover  how  inadequate  thereto  is  a 
death-bed's  disabled  state.  Repentance  is  not  the  resolution 
to  amend,  which  resolution  every  one  makes  almost  every 
time  he  sufFereth  for  sin,  and  breaks  as  often.  If  this  be  the 
repentance  that  needeth  not  to  be  repented  of,  but  will  car- 
ry you  clear  through  the  Judgment  in  heaven,  then  you 
have  made  it  fifty  times,  aye  a  thousand  times,  every  time 
you  had  compunctious  visitings  of  conscience,  painful  after- 
thoughts, or  calamitous  consequences  of  sin.  This  is  not  the 
repentance  that  either  God  or  man  doth  care  for.  Repent- 
ance is  that  from  which  commenceth  a  change  of  life.  It  is 
the  turning  point  of  character  and  conduct,  which  reverses 
and  afflictions,  and  sin's  twanging  consequences,  may  sug- 
gest, but  never  of  themselves  can  bring  about.  The  resolu- 
tion is  one  thing,  the  power  to  carry  into  effect  is  another. 
I  may  resolve  to  be  rich,  but  am  I  therefore  rich?  and  will 
my  bills  upon  the  credit  of  that  resolution  pass  upon  the 
Exchange?  I  may  resolve  to  be  learned,  but  am  I  therefore 
learned?  or  will  the  Senate  of  the  University  grant  me  aca- 
demic honours  upon  the  credit  of  my  resolution?  I  resolve 
to  be  good;  am  I  therefore  good,  or  will  God  pass  me  at 
the  judgment- seat?  How  wise  men  take  pleasure  to  deceive 
themselves  for  the  sake  of  a  little  temporal  indulgence! 

The  resolution  is  to  be  commended,  but  not  to  be  trusted 
one  time  in  a  thousand.  For  man  cannot  effect  a  change  up- 
on the  spur  of  resolution,  which  is  the  highest  faculty  of 
God  alone.  Yet  the  resolution  is  good,  and  ought  to  be  en- 
couraged. But  if  the  resolution  would  succet>d,.we  must  go 
to  work  and  take  the  proper  means  for  bringing  the  change 
about.  We  must  slacken  hold  of  that  world  which  hath  led 
us  such  a  heavy  rueful  road;  and  take  hold  of  something 
which  may  carry  us  into  a  better  drift.  The  world,  as  na- 
ture looketh  on  it,  is  a  deluder,  a  charmer;  and  will  carry 
us  deeper  and  deeper  into  its  labyrinth.  It  filleth  the  soul 
brim  full  of  false,  ambitious,  fallacious  estimates,  delusory 
wishes,  dreams  and  phantasies  of  good  and  happiness.  From 
her  the  natural  man  taketh  in  nothing  but  poison  to  his  spi- 
ritual faculties,  and  alienation  from  his  God.  If  therefore, 
a  change  is  to  ensue  upon  resolution,  courses  must  be  taken 
for  evacuating  from  the  heart  these  evil  and  delusory  things 


OF   JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  325 

of  which  is  the  continent.  For  if  the  heart  continue  primed 
with  its  ancient  charge,  what  alteration  under  heaven  can 
there  be  of  life? 

Whence,  then,  is  the  heart  to  be  charged  with  new  and 
better  contents?  Not  from  the  world.  Whence  then?  from 
the  word  of  God?  This  is  the  new  world  out  of  which  the 
soul  is  to  suck  a  new  nature,  and  be  conformed  unto  a  new 
image.  Here  she  will  see  things  in  new  lights.  Hence  de- 
rive new  apprehensions  of  God,  new  estimates  of  human 
things;  heavenly  ambitions  and  earthly  contempts,  sincere 
affections,  true  interests,  solid  comforts,  stable  principles, 
unflitting  hopes,  and  abiding  joys.  These  new  tenants  of 
the  heart,  as  they  enter  through  the  knowledge  and  belief 
of  the  word  of  God,  will  expel  the  old  ones,  and  a  change 
of  life  will  grow  apace;  for  out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil 
thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  thefts,  false  wit- 
ness, blasphemies,  and  whatever  else  defiles  the  life  of  man; 
and,  till  the  heart  be  discharged  and  cleansed  of  its  foul  and 
adulterous  load  of  nature's  and  the  world's  engendering,  and 
possessed  with  another  load  engendered  by  the  Word  and 
Spirit  of  God,  it  is  vain,  very  vain,  to  think  that  any  refor- 
mation or  alteration  of  life  will  ensue. 

How  then,  if  these  principles  stand  true,  and  that  they 
do,  ail  reason,  revelation,  and  common  experience  of  man 
do  testify,  how  can  any  son  of  man  commit  the  work  of  re- 
pentance to  the  desolate  and  soul- dissolving  hour  of  death? 
What  time  then  is  there  for  the  implantation  of  new  princi- 
ples— what  strength  for  the  ejecting  of  old  ones — what 
room  for  experimenting  upon  the  change — what  solacement 
of  assured  hope  to  any  clear-eyed  spirit — what  scope  for  the 
office  of  a  pastor — what  occupation  for  any  soul?  The  com- 
munings between  such  a  soul  and  a  faithful  pastor  are  the 
very  shadow  of  weakness;  the  frailest,  idlest,  most  unprofit- 
able meeting  which  can  take  place  on  earth,  a  mere  mockery 
of  religion,  and  pregnant  with  most  delusive  effects.  The 
pastor  hath  plenty  of  good  things  to  bestow,  but  the  dying 
man  hath  not  a  faculty  of  soul  disengaged  to  take  them  up, 
nor  hath  he  room  wherein  to  stow  them.  He  is  dying,  load- 
ed, as  he  lived,  with  earthly  cares.  The  pastor  is  a  mere 
tool  of  ceremony  by  his  bed-side;  the  most  useless,  the  most 
helpless  of  all  who  minister  to  his  wants,  because,  to  speak 
the  very  truth,  he  hath  no  wants  to  which  it  is  his  province 
to  minister. 

But  when  it  otherwise  happeneth  that  the  fear  of  God  had 
made  an  early  lodgment  in  the  breast,  and   kept  its  place 

42 


3-^6  OF  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

against  the  temptations  of  this  world  and  the  impressions  of 
nature  within;  that  the  hand  of  God  hath  been  seen  and 
gratefully  acknowledged  throngh  the  whole  of  life;  that  the 
weight  of  sins  hath  led  the  soul  to  the  Cross  of  Christ,  and 
unburthened  it  there;  and  that  the  worship  of  God  hath 
been  publicly  pursued,  and  his  favour  privately  besought, 
and  his  works,  to  the  extent  of  our  understanding  and  the 
ability  of  our  mind,  followed  after;  then,  then  the  pastor's 
office  to  minister  at  his  death-bed  is  an  office  full  of  mean- 
ing, and  full  of  heart-felt  gladness,  to  the  spiritual  patient 
most  enlivening,  and  to  all  around  most  affecting.  Such  a 
death-bed  hath  no  terror;  and  it  is  well  nigh  cheated  of  its 
grief,  at  least  it  hath  a  chastened  grief.  It  is  like  the  refin- 
ing furnace  to  the  gold,  where  the  dross  alone  is  left;  the 
refreshing  of  spring  when  the  creature  casts  its  viler  slough; 
or  the  apotheosis  of  an  ancient  hero,  when  his  spirit  riseth 
before  his  kindred  from  its  earthly  nook  into  the  neighbour- 
hood of  God. 

Ah,  then,  why  do  men  dream!  and  why  doat  they  upon 
this  final  repentance  which  is  so  impracticable!  Why  put 
they  off  the  present  thought  of  death,  under  the  delusion  of 
taking  it  up  at  a  more  convenient  season!  Do  be  intreated, 
for  the  sake  of  all  that  is  dear  to  man  in  time  and  in  eter- 
nity, to  take  the  matter  up  at  present.  Send  those  thoughts, 
which  roam  sportive  over  gay  fields  of  delusion;  send  those 
active,  manly  purposes,  which  now  combat  the  hard  and  pe- 
rilous conditions  of  human  life;  send  those  fond  hopes,  which 
dwell  over  the  troublous  future  of  the  present  life — hopes 
of  a  good  which  shineth  faintly,  and  in  the  end  defeat,  like 
the  ignis-fatuus,  the  pursuits  of  most;  send  those  fears,  which 
dwell  over  the  troublous  future  of  the  present  life — fears 
of  loss,  of  poverty,  of  disgrace,  of  worldly  defamation,  or 
worldly  despite;  send  them  all,  I  do  pray  you,  by  heaven's 
glorious  scenes,  and  hell's  awful  bereavements,  send  alUhose 
joyful  thoughts  and  manly  purposes,  and  fond  hopes  and 
gloomy  fears,  send  them  into  the  word  of  God,  that  they 
may  partake  there  a  proper,  real,  and  everlasting  nutriment, 
which  may  build  up  the  edification  of  the  soul,  and  secure 
for  ever  her  well-being  beyond  the  power  of  death  and  the 
grave,  and  sin,  and  the  father  of  sin,  to  do  her  harm. 

This  '  procrastination,  it  is  the  thief  of  time;'  this  postpone- 
ment of  repentance,  is  the  kidnapper  of  souls,  and  the  recruit- 
ing-officer of  hell.  And  I  well  do  know  what  a  troop  of  gene- 
rous men  he  hath  deluded;  men  who  know  the  truth,  and  re- 
vere the  truth,  but  postpone  it  under  the  incantation  and  magic 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO   COME.  327 

of  this  great  enemy  of  heaven.  Mine  is  an  impotent  position 
from  which  to  assault  an  enemy  that  is  possessed  of  your  bo- 
soms; but  if  I  could  arouse  your  better  faculties,  which  his 
potations  have  laid  asleep,  and  draw  them  to  take  a  refreshing 
draught  fronj  the  wine  and  milk  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  then 
I  glory  to  think  how  they  would  clear  the  inward  temple  of 
his  sacrilegious  intruder,  and  send  him  and  his  herd  to  the 
kennel,  whence  they  issued  to  dupe  the  soul  of  man  and  be- 
reave him  of  his  noble  enjoyment.     Would  you  compose 
yourselves  to  thought;  would  you  still  the  tumultuous  host 
of  passions  and  affections   within,  escape  to  a  secret  place 
from  the  din  without,  sit  you  down  to  think  of  life  and  death, 
and  judgment  and  eternity,  there  would  come  up  such  still, 
small  voices  from  the  depths  within,  such  stifled  thoughts 
of  God   would  awaken  and  present  themselves  at  the  court 
of  conscience  once  more,  strangled  affections  to  Christ  would 
breathe  again  through  the  living  Spirit  of  our  God,  tender 
promises  of  Scripture  would  quicken   long-departed  hope; 
and  the  gospel  of  our  Saviour  would  banish  dissuading  fears, 
and  the  heart  would  open  its  stony  doors  to  God,  as  the 
flowers  do  their  folded  bosom  to  the  beams  of  the  sun.  And 
oh!  what  new  purposes  would  grow  from  the  divine  com- 
munion, and  what  new  courses  would  be  followed   by  the 
grace  of  our  God!    And  what  freshness,  what  health,  what 
joyfulness,  would  enliven  our  diseased  and  sickened  soul! 
The  bridegroom  hath  blessed  her  with  his  love,  and  united 
himself  to  her  for  ever.     Life,  for  the  first  time   beginneth;  * 
and,  like  Christ,  the   father  of  it,  it  ariseth  from  a  tomb — 
the  tomb  of  the  old  man  crucified.     Then  the  seed  of  the 
Word  that  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever  is   implanted;  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  come  forth  from  the  bed  of  carnal  na- 
ture, and  the  spiritual  man  standeth  ready  to  be  glorified  by 
death.  Such,  be  assured,  my  beloved  brethren,  will  come  to 
every  one  of  you,  if  you  will  but  shake  off,  in  the  strength 
of  God,  this  nightmare  of  procrastination,  which  weigheth 
down  your  bosom,  and  will  speedily  consume  your  life. 

Thus  is  one  strength  demolished,  into  which  indolent  na* 
ture  retreateth,  and  where  she  liveth  upon  time,  as  the  sloth 
does  upon  the  tree,  till  every  particle  of  the  food  is  con- 
sumed, then  droppeth,  she  knoweth  not  whither.  There  is 
another  strength  into  which  she  casts  herself  when  beaten 
out  of  this,  upon  which  I  meditate  no  parley,  no  tedious 
operation,  of  argument,  but  a  main  attack,  a  storm,  where 
it  shall  be  fought  hand  to  hand,  without  any  reserve  or  any 
mercy  upon  either  side.     For  they   are  desperados  with 


3j28  op  judgment  to  come. 

whom  I  am  now  to  deal,  if  so  be  that  our  former  mild  and 
reasoning  method  of  discourse  have  failed  to  move  them. 

There  be  those  who  confound  the  foresight  of  death  with 
a  fear  fulness  of  death,  and  talk  of  meeting  death  like  brave 
men;  and  there  be  institutions  inhuman  society  which  seem 
made  on  purpose  to  hinder  the  thoughts  of  death  from 
coming  timeously  before  the  deliberation  of  the  mind. 
And  they  who  die  in  war,  be  they  ever  so  dissipated,  aban- 
doned, and  wretched^  have  oft  a  halo  of  everlasting  glory 
arrayed  by  poetry  and  music,  around  their  heads;  and  the 
forlorn  hope  of  any  enterprise  goeth  to  their  terrible  post 
amidst  the  applauding  shouts  of  all  their  comrades-  And 
'  to  die  game,'  is  a  brutal  form  of  speech  which  they  are 
now  proud  to  apply  to  men.  And  our  prize-fights,  where 
they  go  plunging  upon  the  edge  of  eternity,  and  often  plunge 
through,  are  applauded  by  tens  of  thousands,  just  in  pro- 
portion as  the  bull-dog  quality  of  the  human  creature  car- 
ries it  over  every  other.  And  to  run  hair-breadth  escapes, 
to  graze  the  grass  that  skirts  the  grave,  and  escape  the 
yawning  pit,  the  impious,  daring  wretches  call  cheating  the 
devil;  and  the  watch-word  of  your  dissolute,  debauched 
people  is,  "  A  short  life  and  a  merry  one."  All  which 
tribes  of  wreckless,  godless  people  lift  loud  the  laugh  against 
the  saints,  as  a  sickly,  timorous  crew,  who  have  no  upright 
gait  in  life,  but  are  always  cringing  under  apprehensions  of 
death  and  the  devil.  And  these  bravos  think  they  play  the 
man  in  spurning  God  and  his  concerns  away  from  their  pla- 
ces; that  there  would  be  no  chivalry,  nor  gallantry,  nor  bat- 
tle-brunt in  the  temper  of  man,  were  he  to  stand  in  awe  of 
the  sequel  which  followeth  death.  And  thus  the  devil  hath 
built  up  a  strong  embattled  tower,  from  which  he  lordeth 
it  over  the  spirits  of  many  men,  winning  them  over  to  him- 
self, playing  them  off  for  his  sport,  in  utter  darkness  all 
their  life  long,  till  in  the  end  they  take  a  leap  in  the  dark, 
and  plunge  into  his  yawning  pit;  never,  never  to  rise  again. 

And  here,  first,  I  would  try  these  flush  and  flashy  spirits 
with  their  own  weapons,  and  play  a  little  with  them  at  their 
own  game.  They  do  but  prate  about  their  exploits  at  fight- 
ing, drinking,  and  death-despising.  I  can  tell  them  of  those 
who  fought  with  savage  beasts;  yea,  of  maidens,  who  durst 
enter  as  cooly  as  a  modern  bully  into  the  ring,  to  take  their 
chance  with  infuriated  beasts  of  prey;  and  I  can  tell  them 
of  those  who  drank  the  molten  lead  as  cheerfully  as  they  do 
the  juice  of  the  grape,  and  handled  the  red  fire,  and  played 
with  the  bickering  flames  as  gaily  as  they  do  with  love's 
dimples  or  woman's  amorous  tresses.     And  what  do  they 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME.  31^9 

talk  of  war?  Have  they  forgot  CromweU's  iron-band,  who 
made  their  chivalry  to  skip?  or  the  Scots  Cameronions,  who 
seven  times,  with  their  Christian  chief,  received  the  thanks  . 
of  Marlborough,  that  first  of  English  captains?  or  Gustavus 
of  the  North,  whose  camp  sung  Psalms  in  every  tent?  It 
is  not  so  long,  that  they  should  forget  Nelson's  Methodists, 
who  were  the  most  trusted  of  that  hero's  crew.  Poor  men, 
they  know  nothing  who  do  not  know  out  of  their  country's 
history,  who  it  was  that  set  at  nought  the  wilfulness  of  Hen- 
ry VIII.  and  the  sharp  rage  of  the  virgin  Queen  against 
liberty,  and  bore  the  black  cruelty  of  her  popish  sister;  and 
presented  the  petition  of  rights,  and  the  bill  of  rights,  and 
the  claim  of  rights.  Was  it  chivalry?  was  it  blind  bravery? 
No;  these  second-rate  qualities  may  do  for  a  pitched  field, 
or  a  fenced  ring;  but  when  it  comes  to  death  or  liberty, 
death  or  virtue,  death  or  religion,  they  wax  dubious,  gene- 
rally bow  their  necks  under  hardship,  or  turn  their  backs 
for  a  bait  of  honour,  or  a  mess  of  solid  and  substantial 
meat.  This  chivalry  and  brutal  bravery  can  fight  if  you 
feed  them  well  and  bribe  them  well,  or  set  them  well  on 
edge;  but  in  the  midst  of  hunger  and  nakedness,  and  want 
and  persecution,  in  the  day  of  a  country's  direst  need,  they 
are  cowardly,  treacherous,  and  of  no  avail. 

Oh  these  topers,  these  gamesters,  these  idle  revellers, 
these  hardened  death-despisers!  they  are  a  nation's  disgrace, 
a  nation's  downfall.  They  devour  the  seed  of  virtue  in  the 
land;  they  feed  on  virginity,  and  modesty,  and  truth.  They 
grow  great  in  crime,  and  hold  a  hot  war  with  the  men  of 
peace.  They  sink  themselves  in  debt;  they  cover  their 
families  with  disgrace;  they  are  their  country's  shame  And 
will  they  talk  about  being  their  country's  crown,  and  her 
rock  of  defence?  They  have  in  them  a  courage  of  a  kind 
such  as  Cataline  and  his  conspirators  had.  They  will  plunge 
in  blood  for  crowns  and  gaudy  honours;  or,  like  the  bolder 
animals,  they  will  set  on  with  brutal  courage,  and,  like  all 
animals,  they  will  lift  up  an  arm  of  defence  against  those 
who  do  them  harm.  But  their  soul  is  consumed  with  wan- 
tonness, and  their  steadfast  principles  are  dethroned  by  er- 
ror; their  very  frames,  their  bones  and  sinews,  are  effemi- 
nated and  degraded  by  vice  and  dissolute  indulgences. 

If  there  is  no  bravery  in  meeting  an  enemy  whose  power 
and  virulence  we  know  not,  and  if  there  is  no  cowardice  in 
examining  an  enemy's  strength,  that  we  may  take  precau- 
tions to  meet  him  with  success,  then  have  these  bravos  no 
credit  for  valour  in  overlooking  death,  and  we  have  no  dis- 
credit for  calmly  preparing  to  receive  him:  for  they  know 


330 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO    COME. 


not  that  which  they   affect  to  despise,  and  therefore  they 
have  no  credit  in  despising  it;  while  we  do  know,  and  are 
alone  entitled  to  the  praise  of  being  resolute  men.  A  blind 
man  hath  no  credit  from  running  risks,  for  he  sees  not  the 
danger  that  is  before  him;  and  if  he  should  come  upon  his 
enemy's  ground,  there  is  no  courage  in  that,  for  he  knoweth 
not  that  he  is  there;  and  if,  while  his  enemy  is  taking  mea- 
sures to  trammel  him  and  cut  him  off,  he  preserve  his  reso- 
lution and  show   no  signs  of  alarm,  there  is  no  heroism   in 
that,  for  he  knoweth  not  what  is  hastening  to  befal  him.  No 
higher  do  I  rate  the  resolution   of  those   men  who  make  a 
mock  of  death,  because  they  are   generally   as   ignorant  of 
its  consequences  as  a  blind  man  is  of  the  perils  in  his  way. 
They  know  no  more  of  it  than  the  parting  of  the  breath  and 
the  entombing  of  the   lifeless   clay.     They  look  no  further 
with  a  steady  eye.     Judgment  they  never  bring  their  con- 
science to  face.     The  holiness  and  justice  of  God  they  deal 
not  with   at   all;  they  blink  the  whole  question  of  eternity. 
Where,  then,  is  their  courage?   Doth  it  lie  in  winking  hard, 
like  a  child  when  it  is  afraid?  Does  it  lie  in  hiding  the  head 
in  a  bush,  as  they   say  the   ostrich  does  when  he  finds    he 
cannot  escape  his  pursuers?     Let  them  open  their  eyes  to 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  then  put  their  courage  to  the 
proof.     One  who  believes  that  death  is  an  eternal  sleep,  or 
that  the  next  world  will  at  least  be  better  than  the  present, 
or  that  God  will  wipe  all  transgressions  into  oblivion,   and 
that    his  judgment  will  be  a  universal  act  of  indemnity,  a 
general  gaol  delivery,  what   hinders  him   to  die   calm   and 
brave.     And  what   praise  or  credit  would  he  claim?     He 
must  indeed  be  a  craven  who  cannot  face  the  pain  of  dying. 
Pain  is  doubtless  an  excessive  evil,   and  not  to  be  courted; 
but  if  to  bear  patiently  the  pain  of  dying  be  the  great  feat 
upon  which  these  boasters  plume  themselves,  they  have  in- 
deed a  large  conceit;  for  it  is  a  courage  which  the  common- 
est, meanest,  weakest  possess,  in  equal  perfection  with  them- 
selves. The  coolness,  the  gaiety  of  all  such  men  in  the  hour 
of  death,  is  like  the  coolness  and  gaiety    of  soldiers   when 
they  are  marching,  not  against  the  battle,  but  into  the  am- 
bush, of  the  enemy.     They  know  not  what  is  before  them 
and   around   them;   the  country  seemeth   clear;  and  to  be 
afraid  would  be  the  extreme  of  cowardice;  they  cheerfully 
pursue  their  way,  they  gaily  jest  and  talk,  they  move  on  un- 
concerned as  cattle  to  the  slaughter-house,  and  for  the  same 
reason  they  are  unconcerned,  because  they  know  not  what 
is  before  them:  but  the  moment  arrives,  the  signal  is  given, 
the  ambuscade  opens  its  arms  of  death  around  them.  Now 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  331 

let  them  show  their  valour,  for  hitherto  they  have  showed 
none.  So  say  I  to  these  self-blinded  boasters.  Give  ear  to 
the  true  character  of  death,  to  the  whole  scope  of  its  con- 
sequences, to  the  certainty  of  its  issues;  take  into  your 
minds  the  after  thoughts,  the  dreams,  the  awakening  con- 
sternation, the  resurrection  morn,  the  fearful  judgment,  the 
whole  compass  of  a  Christian's  eternity,  and  then  draw 
yourself  into  comparison  with  a  Christian  in  the  matter  of 
facing  death. 

Oh!  it  sickens  the  grave  spirit  of  a  man,  to  see  how  these 
swaggering  bragadocios,  who  have  slain  immortality  within 
their  breast,  bereaved  their  nature  of  its  spiritual  and  eter- 
nal part,  brought  themselves  to  the  nature  of  the  animal  or 
merely  intellectual  man,  exult  in  their  degradation,  make 
a  merit  of  their  loss,  and  pride  themselves  in  their  shame. 
The  thoughtless,  godless  generation  have  evacuated  God 
from  their  hearts,  and  they  have  filled  them  with  sensual 
possessors;  or,  making  the  faculties  of  reason  their  only 
guide,  they  have  not  sought  after  the  recreation  of  the  spir- 
itual man  within — they  have  cut  off  commerce  with  the 
other  world — it  hath  faded  into  a  thin  vision,  or  been  re- 
jected as  a  fabled  mystery;  and  being  so  despoiled  of  all 
that  should  have  been  the  food  of  serious  meditation  over 
death,  and  grave  preparation  for  its  arrival,  the  men  think 
themselves  great  for  wanting  that  meditation  and  carefulness 
whereof  they  have  not  the  materials  within  them,  nor  can- 
not have,  save  by  a  regeneration  of  nature,  and  a  resurrec- 
tion of  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  world  to  come.  And 
they  will  take  into  their  profane  lips  to  judge  the  children 
of  God,  whom  they  can  no  more  understand,  being  desti- 
tute of  spiritual  life,  than  the  lower  animals  can  understand 
our  reasoning  nature,  or  take  upon  them  to  judge  our  rea- 
sonable procedure.  It  doth  appear  to  me  that  the  tiger, 
who  plungeth  on  with  bare  breast  and  unarmed  claws  upon 
surrounding  deaths,  hath  as  good  title  to  call  the  soldier 
coward,  who  casts  a  shield  before  his  heart,  and  arms  his 
right  hand  with  steel,  and  clothes  his  mind  with  circum- 
spection in  the  hour  of  danger,  as  the  sensual  or  even  in- 
tellectual man  hath  to  judge  the  spiritual  man  of  God  and 
call  him  coward,  because  in  the  hour  of  his  need  he  puts 
on  the  breast-plate  of  righteousness,  and  the  shield  of  faith, 
and  the  helmit  of  salvation,  and,  with  the  circumspection 
of  prayer  and  the  word  of  God,  struggles  with  the  great 
adversary  of  the  life  of  man. 

Besides,  for  I  have  set  myself  in  the  strengths  of  God  to 
fight  his  battle  with  the  ungodly  generation,  these  men,  who 


332  OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

thus  intrench  themselves  in  a  boasted  fearlessness  of  death, 
do,  it  seems  to  me,  derive  that  courage  which  they  boast 
of,  not  only  from  their  ignorance  of  the  enemy's  strength, 
but  also  from  certain  artificial  stimulants  with  which  they 
treat  their  souls,  as  weak -hearted  soldiers  do  upon  the  eve 
of  battle,  or  as  the  Malays,  who,  when  they  have  staked  and 
lost  their  all  at  play,  do  intoxicate  themselves  with  opium, 
and  then  rush  with  creiss  in  hand  into  the  streets,  running 
a-muck,  and  dealing  death  around,  until  some  hand  arrest 
their  deadly  course.     For  the  spirit  can  be  intoxicated  and 
made  unfit  for  deliberative  judgment  by  as  many  methods 
as  the  body  can.  Life  may  be  made  so  miserable  as  to  make 
death  seem,  to  people  in  their  state  of  ignorance,  the  least 
of  two  evils,  and  the  better  choice  upon  the  whole;  or  rage 
may  rise  to  such  a  pitch  as  to  make  a  man  flee  with  head- 
long fury  upon  death,  or  shame  and  disgrace  may  prompt 
him  from  behind:  or  ambition  and  glory  may  intoxicate  him, 
or  revenge  may  make  him  furious:  in  all  which  cases  his 
soul  is  not  master  of  itself,  and  the  action  is  not  to  be  taken 
in  proof  of  cool  deliberative  contempt  of  death.     And  for 
those  who  make  light  of  it  at  a  distance,  they  will  be  found 
generally  to  have  a  dash  of  the  braggart  in  their  character, 
to  the  score  of  which  it  may  be  set  down.  Wait  till  it  draw 
nigh,  and  watch  them  as  its  hour  approacheth,  and  observe 
how  their  courage  stands  the  proof. 

Perhaps  the  best  way  of  making  this  experiment  is  to 
look  upon  the  last  hours  of  the  condemned.  There  are  no 
practical  despisers  of  death  like  those  who  touch,  and  taste, 
and  handle  death  daily;  by  daily  committing  capital  offences. 
They  make  a  jest  of  death:  all  its  forms,  and  all  its  terrors, 
are  in  their  mouths  a  scorn.  Now  it  hath  been  my  lot  to  at- 
tend on  the  condemned  cells  of  prisoners,  and  to  note  the 
effects  when  they  were  kept  cool  in  body  and  in  mind,  and 
saw  that  enemy  at  hand  whom  they  affected  to  despise  when 
at  a  distance.  And  in  the  North  we  have  a  better  opportu- 
nity of  making  this  painful  observation,  seeing  weeks,  not 
days,  intervene  between  sentence  and  execution.  Now  this 
is  the  fact:  that,  first  of  all,  death  in  sight  hath  such  a  terri- 
ble aspect,  that  they  make  every  effort  to  escape  him.  If 
there  be  one  ray  of  hope,  it  is  entertained  with  the  whole 
soul.  All  friends  are  importuned;  every  channel  of  interest 
beset;  and  a  reprieve  is  besought  by  every  argument  and  in- 
treaty.  Some  have  lived  such  a  life  of  enormity,  and  are  en- 
veloped in  such  a  cloud  of  brutal  ignorance,  that  they  die 
without  care,  and  run  the  risk  of  another  world,  if  there  be 
one.  But  this  is  not  frequent.  The  greater  number  abandon 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  3f}3 

their  untenable  position  of  hardihood,  and  seek  a  shelter 
when  the  terrible  storm  hurtleth  in  the  heavens,  and  they  see 
its  dismal  preparation.  I  know  how  it  is,  for  I  have  watch- 
ed all  the  night  and  all  the  morning  in  their  cells,  and  walk- 
ed with  them  to  the  drop;  and  one  only  1  have  found  whose 
heart  would  not  yield:  and  when  I  took  his  hand,  it  was  cold 
and  clammy,  and  ever  and  anon  there  shot  a  shiver  through 
his  frame,  and  again  resolution  braced  him  up,  and. again  the 
convulsive  throb  of  nature  shot  thrilling  to  the  extremities, 
which  testified  the  strife  of  nature  within. 

Ah!  brave  not  death,  or  he  will  take  vengeance  when  he 
Cometh.  When  the  Lord  delivereth  you  into  his  hands,  he 
will  rush  upon  you  with  revenge  for  all  the  affronts  you  have 
given  him.  These  are  no  vain  tales  which  are  told  of  the 
very  proud  and  the  extremely  wicked — how  they  die  in  ter- 
rible moods:  for  God  hath  the  design  of  thereby  demon- 
strating to  the  world  how  weak  men  are  at  their  best,  and 
how  proudest  men  are  most  abased*  He  intendeth,  before 
they  leave^the  earth,  to  defeat  in  the  eyes  of  men,  or  in  their 
ears  to  contradict  all  the  blasphemy  which  these  sons  of  Be- 
lial have  uttered;  therefore  he  sent  Nebuchadnezzar  before 
he  died  to  herd  with  the  cattle  of  the  field;  therefore  he 
smote  Herod  with  worms  in  the  hour  of  his  highest  pride; 
and  therefore  he  hath  given  so  many  persecutors  of  his 
church  so  hard  a  passage  from  this  world  into  the  next. 

It  so  be  that  it  is  the  cloud  of  ignorance  which  hindereth 
your  sight  of  God's  truth,  and  deadeneth  the  admonitions 
of  conscience  within  the  breast,  then  indeed  you  wt-ll  may 
die  unconscious,  as  you  lived  unconscious,  and  judgment 
shall  go,  in  that  case,  against  you,  because  you  opened  not 
your  ear  to  instruction;  but  if  in  the  lime  past,  and  at  this 
time,  ye  be  suppressing  the  voice  of  conscience  and  the  ad- 
monitions of  God,  and  with  your  eyes  open  pkmging  deep- 
er and  deeper  into  sin,  then  there  is  every  likelihood  that 
conscience  will  awake  on  a  death-bed,  and  outwardly  or  in- 
wardly torture  before  you  depart. 

For,  see  you  not  that  former  pleasures  have  taken  wing, 
and  former  strength;  that  joy  hath  dissolved  her  court,  and 
dispersed  her  train;  that  silence  reigns  without,  and  the  pre- 
monitions of  death  speak  within;  and  long,  long  nights  of 
wakefulness  have  to  pass,  and  days  of  gloom  to  drag  on  their 
weary  course;  and  enjoyment  being  deceived  and  anticipa- 
tion shrinking  back,  there  is  nothing  but  the  past  over  which 
the  mind  can  broods  Each  event  comes  arrayed  in  respon- 
sibility, and  each  scruple  of  conscience  becomes  a  leaden 

43 


334  OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

Weight  upon  our  breasts;  and  each  twang  of  remorse  be- 
comes a  sticking,  cleaving  enemy,  and  the  sick  man  cannot 
shake  them  off  by  joyful  company,  or  cheerful  converse,  or 
stimulating  pleasures.  He  lieth  within  his  curtained  tent— • 
his  eye  rolleth  over  its  murky  sides — he  would  shake  the 
thoughts  away,  but  they  cling  like  vultures  upon  his  breast, 
and  he  lieth  at  their  mercy,  till,  stung  to  madness,  he  can 
no  longer  refrain.  Then  he  lifteth  up  his  voice  in  self-con- 
demnation, and  cleaveth  the  common  ear  with  the  tale  of 
his  evil  deeds,  and  the  pride  of  surrounding  relatives  cannot 
restrain  him;  but  he  holds  on  unsparingly,  to  clear  his  breast 
of  these  tormentors.  And  he  remits  to  recover  strength,  and 
resumes  in  all  the  bitterness  of  a  man  possessed;  and  calls 
his  children  to  his  bedside,  and  imprecates  on  their  heads 
direful  curses  if  they  travel  in  their  father's  footsteps.  Then 
turns  upon  his  bed,  and  enjoys  the  momentary  calm  of  a  dis- 
burdened conscience,  and  in  anguish^  expires. 

And  another,  of  a  more  dark  and  dauntless  mood,  who 
hath  braved  a  thousand  terrors,  will  also  make  a  stand 
against  terror's  grisly  king.  And  he  will  seek  his  ancient 
intrepidity,  and  seaich  for  his  wonted  indifference;  and  light 
smiles  upon  his  ghastly  visage,  and  affect  levity  with  his 
palsied  tongue,  and  parry  his  rising  fears,  and  wear  smooth- 
ness in  his  outward  heart,  while  there  is  nothing  but  tossing 
and  uproar  beneath.  He  may  expire  in  the  terrible  struggle 
' — nature  may  fail  under  the  unnatural  contest;  then  he  dies 
with  desperation  imprinted  on  his  clay! 

But  if  he  succeed  in  keeping  the  first  onset  down,  then 
mark  how  a  second  and  a  third  comes  on,  as  he  waxeth  fee- 
bler. Nature  no  longer  enduring  so  much,  strange  and  in- 
coherent words  burst  forth,  and  now  and  then  a  sentence  of 
stern  and  loud  defiance.  This  escape  perceiving,  he  will  ga- 
ther up  his  strength,  and  laugh  it  off  as  reverie.  And  then 
remark  him  in  his  sleep:  how  his  countenance  suffereth 
change,  and  his  l)reast  swelleth  like  the  deep;  and  his  hands 
grasp  for  a  hold,  as  if  his  soul  were  drowning;  and  his  lips 
tremble  and  mutter,  and  his  breath  comes  in  sighs,  or  stays 
with  long  suppression,  like  the  gusts  which  precede  the 
bursting  storm;  and  his  frame  shudders,  and  shakes  the 
couch  on  which  this  awful  scene  of  death  is  transacted.  Ah! 
these  are  the  ebbings  and  flowings  of  strong  resolve  and 
strong  remorse.  That  might  have  been  a  noble  man;  but  he 
rejected  all,  and  chose  wickedness,  in  the  face  of  strong  vi- 
sitings  of  God,  and  therefore  he  is  now  so  severely  holden 
of  death. 

And  reason  doth  often  resign  her  seat  at  the  latter  end 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  335 

of  these  God-despisers.  Then  the  eye  looks  forth  from  its 
naked  socket,  ghastly  and  wild;  terror  sits  enthroned  upon 
the  pale  brow;  he  starts — he  thinks  that  the  fiends  of  hell 
are  already  upon  him;  his  disordered  brain  gives  them  form 
and  fearful  shape;  he  speaks  them — he  craves  their  mercy. 
His  tender  relatives  beseech  him  to  be  silent,  and  with 
words  of  comfort  assuage  his  terror,  and  recal  him  from  his 
paroxysm  of  remorse.  A  calm  succeeds,  until  disordered 
imagination  hath  recruited  strength  for  a  fresh  creation  of 
terror;  and  he  dies,  with  a  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment 
and  of  fiery  indignation  to  consume  him. 

These  cases  are  not  ideal,  though  they  be  extreme;  in 
mercy  to  surrounding  and  surviving  relatives,  God  suffereth 
it  not  often.  But  though  outward  demonstration  be  carefully 
shrouded  up,  I  greatly  err  if  inward  tumult  and  tossing  of 
the  mind  be  rare:  I  am  assured  it  is  not  rare;  else  why  send 
for  the  spiritual  opiate  of  a  priest,  and  why  seek  the  requiem 
of  a  prayer?  why  call  for  the  extreme  unction  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ?  I  know  that  in  many  cases  a  man  with- 
ereth  like  a  tree,  and  in  his  old  age  is  desolate  of  thought; 
he  buds  no  more  with  promise  and  expectation;  he  is  not 
pregnant  with  feeling;  words  kindle  no  fire  in  him,  thoughts 
awake  no  kindred  thoughts.  And,  alas!  this  is  perhaps  the 
most  pitiable  case  of  all,  and  therefore  have  we  reserved  it 
for  the  last  part  of  our  contention  with  these  death-des- 
pisers. 

The  former  bespoke  a  wounded  heart;  this  bespeaks  a 
heart  ossified  and  unimpressible:  reason  remains,  content- 
ment remains;  but,  alas!  feeling  is  dead.  The  spiritual  man 
breathes  no  longer,  but  hath  given  up  the  ghost  under  the 
several  neglects  and  wounds  which  he  hath  received.  The 
animal  life  may  still  be  strong,  and  the  rational  and  intel- 
lectual man  may  be  in  active  exertion;  but  yet  the  power  of 
spiritual  action  be  altogether  lost.  You  cannot  raise  a  spark 
of  conviction,  or  kindle  towards  the  Deity  one  flash  of  love. 
The  whole  faculties  are  occupied,  and  the  old  possessors 
will  not  give  place;  old  trains  of  thought  vvill  not  be  invad- 
ed; old  habits  will  not  be  disturbed;  the  conscience  is  seared 
as  with  a  red-hot  iron.  Ah,  how  helpless  you  feel  at  the 
death  bed  of  such  a  man!  You  see  an  immortal  spirit  going 
into  the  world  unregenerate.  You  would  speak  to  him,  but 
you  know  not  how  to  begin.  You  do  speak  to  him,  and  you 
find  him  intrenched  in  his  decencies,  his  molalities,  his 
charities.  You  cannot  blast  his  hopes,  though  you  know 
them  to  be  hopeless;  for  there  remaineth  no  chance  of  con- 
viction.    It  would  be  only  vexing  him  in  vain,  adding  in- 


SSiJ  OF  JUD6MENT  TO  COME. 

ward  tribulation  to  outward  trouble.  'Every  thing  is  against 
interference,  and  you  are  fain  to  see  him  drown,  without  the 
power  to  reach  him  help. 

Therefore,  ye  sons  of  men,  despise  not  death;  neither 
dismiss  the  thoughts  of  death;  otherwise  one  form  of  this 
disease,  the  acute  or  the  chronic,  will  at  length  possess  your 
soul.    It  is  vain  to  make  bravadoes,  or  to  put  on  hardihood 
against   an   enemy  who   striketh   through   the   strength   of 
princes,  and  overturneth  the  most  settled  and  established 
bulwarks  of  power.  Neither  listen  to  the  bravadoes  of  other 
men:  but  place  them  to  the  score  of  their  ignorance  or  their 
folly.     Withdraw  from  those  who  make  a  mock  of  death, 
or  gainsay  them:  but  do  not  yield  to  their  ignorant  and  wan- 
ton blasphemy.     There  is  no  wisdom   in  contemning  the 
laws  of  our  nature,  the  settled  determined  laws  of  which 
death  is  one.    The  wisdom  is  to  stand  in  awe  of  these  laws 
of  our  Creator,  and  prepare  ourselves  for  the  time  of  their 
arrival.     He  despiseth  God  that  despiseth  God's  ordinance 
of  death.  He  revereth  God  who  revereth  his  appointments. 
Even  if  death  were  a  stern  necessity,  which  could  not  be 
bettered,  I  should  not  ask  you  to  despise  it,  but  to  stand  in 
av/e.     Seeing,  however,  it  is  a  passage  in  our  being  that 
may  become  the  most  glorious,  I  solemnly  invoke  you  to 
timtous  measures,  that  you  may  secure  the  glorious  summer 
and  reaping-time  which  follow  this  wintry  seed-time  of  our 
existence.     For  judgment  comes  on  when  death  has  done 
his  work;  and   if  you  get  not  conscience  disburdened   in 
good  time  of  all  offence  towards  God  and  man,  (which  at 
this  moment  is  possible,  through  the  peace  speaking  blood 
of  Christ,)  there  will  ensue  at  death  such  another  reckoning 
as  no  death  bed  confessional  hath  ever  equalled.     And  if 
you  get  not  the  soul's  attachments  to  the  world  loosened 
before  death,  there  will  ensue  such  a  rending  and  agony, 
upon  your  departure,  as  no  loss  of  country,  of  wife,  or 
children,  can  be  compared  with.     And  if  you  take  not  a 
cool  forethought  of  the  future,  nor  prepare  to  meet  it,  there 
will  come  such  a  brood  of  fears,  such  a  wreck  of  hopes,  as 
no  improvident  spendthrift  ever  encountered.     Oh,  if  the 
loss  of  tortune  can  so  agitate  the  soul,  and  the  loss  of  fame, 
the  loss  of  a  child,  a  wife,  or  a  friend;  if  any  one  of  these 
things  can  make  the  world  seem  desolate,  what  conceivable 
agnny,  when  all  fortune,  family,  friends  and  fame  shall  have 
left  you,  and  you  have  nothing  but  a  waste,  empty,  yawning 
void  of  grief  and  disappointment  to  dwell  in! 

Ye  sons  of  men,  if  these  things  are  even  so,  and  ye  tread 
every  moment  upon  the  brink  of  time,  and  live  upon  the 


OF  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  337 

eve  of  judgment,  what  avails  your  many  cares  and  your  un- 
resting occupations.  Will  your  snug  dwellings,  your  gay 
clothing  and  your  downy  beds,  give  freshness  to  the  stiffen- 
ed joints,  or  remove  the  disease  which  hath  got  a  lodgment 
in  your  marrow  and  your  bones?  Will  your  full  table  and 
cool  wines  give  edge  to  a  jaded  appetite,  or  remove  the 
rancour  of  a  rotted  tooth,  or  supply  the  vigour  of  a  worn- 
down  frame?  Will  a  crowded  board,  and  the  full  flow  of 
jovial  mirth,  and  beauty's  wreathed  smile,  and  beauty's  dul- 
cet voice,  charm  back  to  a  crazy  dwelling  the  ardours  and 
graces  of  youth?  Will  yellow  gold  bribe  the  tongue  of 
memory,  and  wipe  away  from  the  tablets  of  the  mind  the 
remembrance  of  former  doings?  Will  worldly  goods  reach 
upwards  to  heaven,  and  bribe  the  pen  of  the  recording  angel, 
that  he  should  cancel  from  God's  books  all  vestige  of  our 
crimes?  Or  will  they  bribe  Providence,  that  no  cold  blast 
should  come  sweeping  over  our  garden,  and  lay  it  desolate? 
Or  will  they  abrogate  that  eternal  law,  by  which  sin  and 
sorrow,  righteousness  and  peace,  are  bound  together?  Will 
they  lift  up  their  voice,  and  say  wickedness  shall  no  more 
beget  woe,  nor  vice  engender  pain,  nor  indulgence  end  in 
weariness,  nor  the  brood  of  sin  fatten  upon  the  bowels  of 
human  happiness,  and  leave,  wherever  their  snakish  teeth 
do  touch,  the  venom  and  sting  of  remorse?  They  cannot— 
you  know  they  cannot.  And  when  that  last  most  awful 
hour  shall  come,  when  we  shall  stand  upon  the  brink  of  two 
worlds,  and  feel  the  earth  sliding  from  beneath  our  feet,  and 
nothing  to  bold  on  by  that  we  should  not  fall  into  the  un- 
fathomed  abyss;  and  when  a  film  shall  come  over  our  eyes, 
shutting  out  from  the  soul,  for  ever,  friends  and  favourites, 
and  visible  things;  what  are  we,  what  have  we,  if  we  have 
not  a  treasure  in  heaven,  and  an  establishment  there?  And 
when  the  deliquium  of  death  is  passed,  and  we  find  our- 
selves in  the  other  world,  under  the  eye  of  him  that  is  holy 
and  pure,  where  shall  we  hide  ourselves,  if  we  have  no  pro- 
tection and  righteousness  of  Christ? 

Once  more,  ye  sons  of  men!  hear  me  for  your  honour  and 
your  interest's  sake;  and  give  ear  as  you  value  the  love  of 
Christ  and  the  majesty  of  God.  It  is  sure  as  death  and 
destiny,  that  if  you  awake  not  from  this  infatuation  of  cus- 
tom and  pleasure,  at  the  calls  of  God  your  Saviour,  the  ha- 
bitations of  dismal  cruelty,  endless  days  and  nights  of  sor- 
row, shall  be  your  doom.  Oh!  could  I  lift  the  curtain  which 
shrouds  eternity  from  the  eye  of  time,  and  disclose  that 
lazarhouse  of  eternal  death,  what  sleeper  of  you  would  not 
start  at  the  chaos  of  commingled  grief!    Dives,  surrounded 


338  ^   OF   JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

with  his  eastern  pomp  and  luxury,  little  dreamt  that  he  was 
to  awaken  in  torment,  and  crave  a  drop  of  water  to  cool  his 
tongue.  What  business  has  any  forgetter  of  God  with  any 
better  fare?  No, — there  is  no  purgatory  to  purge  away  the 
spiritual  dross  your  spirits  are  encrusted  with,  and  make 
you  clean  for  heaven.  It  is  not  true,  that  after  a  season  of 
endurance,  the  prince  of  the  bottomless  pit  will  hand  you 
at  length  into  heaven.  Without  holiness  no  man  can  see 
God:  without  Christ  no  man  can  attain  to  holiness.  Yet, 
conscious  that  you  are  unholy;  deriving  no  mediation  from 
Christ;  deceiving  yourselves  with  no  respite  nor  alleviation 
of  punishment;  here  you  are,  listless,  lethargic,  and  im- 
moveable! 

Men  and  brethren!  Is  this  always  to  continue,  or  is  it  to 
have  an  end?  If  you  are  resolved  to  brave  it  out,  then  there 
is  before  you  a  proof  to  make  nature  shudder  and  quake  to 
her  inmost  recesses.  Can  ye  stand  and  brave  Omnipotence 
to  do  his  utmost!  Why,  in  this  world,  where  power  is 
muffled  with  mercy,  there  are  a  thousand  inflictions  which 
ye  could  not  brave.  Could  ye  stand  all  that  was  laid  upon 
patient  Job?  Possessions,  sons,  daughters,  health,  reaved 
away — then  could  you  stand  hope  benighted,  and  the  light 
of  heaven  removed,  and  fellowship  of  friends,  and  almighty 
displays  of  power  and  wraths?  Why  the  hardy  band  of  Ro- 
man soldiers,  (and  uho  so  stout-hearted  as  Romans?) 
swooned,  every  man  of  them,  at  the  sight  of  one  of  God's 
visions.  What  could  ye,  were  God's  judgment-seat  dis- 
played, his  justice  no  longer  restrained,  and  his  retribution 
no  longer  delayed;  every  fleet  minister  of  execution  ready 
harnessed  at  his  post,  and  hell  opening  wide  its  mouth,  in- 
satiable as  the  grave,  and  grimmer  than  the  visage  of  death. 
Arraigned,  self-condemned,  singled  out  of  every  crime,  so- 
litary, unbefriended,  one  among  thousands;  life's  pleasures 
at  an  end,  the  world's  vision  faded,  God's  anger  revealed, 
sentence  passed,  judgment  proceeding,  and  the  pit  opening 
its  mouth  on  you,  as  the  earth  on  Korah's  company,  to  re- 
ceive you  quick.  Can  you  stand  this — can  you  think  to 
brave  it?  Then,  verily,  ye  are  mad,  or  callous  as  the  nether 
millstone. 

Do  you  disbelieve  it  then,  do  you  think  God  will  not  be 
so  bad  as  his  word?  When  did  he  fail?  Did  he  fail  at 
Eden  w  hen  the  world  fell?  Did  he  fail  at  the  deluge,  where 
the  world  was  cleansed  of  all  animation,  save  a  handful!^ 
Did  he  fail  upon  the  cities  of  the  plain,  though  remonstrated 
with  by  his  friend,  the  father  of  the  faithful?  Failed  he  in 
the  ten  plagues  of  Egypt,  or  against  the  seven  nations  of 


OP  JUDGMENT  TO  COME.  339 

Canaan;  or,  when  he  armed  against  his  proper  people,  did 
ever  his  threatened  judgments  fail?  Did  he  draw  off  when 
his  own  Son  was  suffering,  and  remove  the  cup  from  his  in* 
nocent  lips?  And  think  ye  he  will  fail,  brethren,  of  that  fu- 
ture destiny,  from  which  to  retrieve  us  he  hath  undertaken 
all  his  wondrous  works  unto  the  children  of  men!  Why,  if 
it  were  but  an  idle  threat,  would  he  not  have  spared  his 
only  begotten  Son,  and  not  delivered  him  up  to  death?  That 
sacred  blood,  as  it  is  the  security  of  heaven  to  those  who 
trust  in  it,  is  the  very  seal  of  hell  to  those  who  despise  it. 

Disbelieve  you  cannot;  brave  it  out  you  dare  not;  then 
must  you  hope,  at  some  more  convenient  season,  to  reform. 
So  hoped  the  five  virgins  who  slumbered  and  slept  without 
oil  in  their  lamps;  and  you  know  how  they  fared.  Neither 
have  you  forgotten  how  the  merchant,  and  the  farmer,  and 
the  sons  of  pleasure,  who  refused  the  invitation  to  the  mar- 
riage feast  of  the  king's  son,  were  consumed  with  fire  from 
heaven.  What  is  your  life,  that  you  should  trust  in  it;  is 
it  not  even  a  vapour  that  speedily  passeth  away?  What  se- 
curity have  you  that  heaven  will  warn  you  beforehand;  or 
that  heaven  will  help  you  to  repentance  whenever  you 
please?  Will  the  resolution  of  your  mind  gather  strength 
as  your  other  facuUies  of  body  and  mind  decay?  Will  sin 
grow  weaker  by  being  a  while  longer  indulged;  or  God 
grow  more  friendly  by  being  a  while  longer  spurned;  or  the 
gospel  more  persuasive  by  being  a  while  longer  set  at 
naught?  I  rede  you,  brethren,  to  beware  of  the  thief  of 
time.  Procrastination.  This  day  is  as  convenient  as  to- 
morrow, this  day  is  yours,  to-morrow  is  not;  this  day  is  a 
day  of  mercy,  to-morrow  may  be  a  day  of  doom. 

But  the  work  is  not  the  work  of  a  moment,  that  it  should 
be  put  off  like  the  making  of  a  viill  or  the  writing  of  a  fare- 
well epistle.  It  is  the  work  of  a  lifetime,  and  too  great  a 
work  for  a  lifetime.  And  if  St.  Paul,  after  such  ceaseless 
labours  and  unwearied  contentions  with  his  nature,  had  still 
his  anxieties,  and  speaks  of  the  righteous  as  being  hardly  or 
with  difficulty  saved,  how  do  you  dare  to  defer  it  from 
time  to  time,  as  a  thing  that  can  at  any  season,  and  in  any 
space,  be  performed? 

And,  oh  heavens!  is  God  thus  to  be  entreated  by  his  crea- 
tures— are  they  to  insist,  for  their  own  convenience,  and  put 
off  the  honour  of  his  friendship  from  time  to  time,  prefer- 
ring this  indulgence,  that  engagement,  and  trifling  downright 
with  his  preferred  invitations?  And  being  thus  put  off,  will 
the  King  of  the  Universe  endure  it  patiently?  Yes,  he  en- 
dures it  patiently — that  is,  he  leaves  you  to  yourselves,  and 


340  OP  JUDGMENT  TO   COME. 

does  not  cut  you  off  with  prompt  and  speedy  vengeance. 
But  he  leaves  you  to  yourselves,  and  every  refusal  hardens 
you  a  little  more,  and  every  resistance  closes  up  another 
avenue  of  grace,  and  every  postponement  places  farther  off 
the  power  of  acceptance;  and  though  God  changeth  not  his 
mercy,  we  change  our  capacity  of  mercy — cooling  more  and 
more,  hardening  more  and  more,  till  old  age,  with  its  le- 
thargy and  fixed  habits,  steals  on  apace,  and  feeble-minded- 
ness,  and  sickness,  which  brings  with  it  the  routine  of  sick- 
bed attendance,  but  little  or  no  repentance,  no  opportunity 
for  new  obedience,  no  space  for  trying  the  spirit  we  are  of, 
■ — and  death  to  such  a  penitent  becomes  a  leap  in  the  dark — 
but  as  such  penitents  are  rare  or  never,  death  to  such  pro- 
crastinators  rivets  up  the  closing  avenues  of  grace,  and  pre- 
sents him  to  the  judgment-seat,  fixed,  finished,  and  incu- 
rable! 

But  it  is  time  to  close  a  Work,  which  we  now  commend 
to  the  providence  and  grace  of  God. 

Do  Thou,  great  source  of  all  intelligence,  forgive  the  er- 
rors and  imperfections  which  thine  omniscient  eye  behold- 
•th  in  this  discourse,  remembering  the  limited  faculties  of 
every  creature,  and  the  clouds  which  sin  hath  induced  upon 
the  mind  of  man.  If  aught  hath  been  uttered  injurious  to 
thy  Majesty,  whereof  thou  art  very  jealous,  do  thou  for- 
give that  greatest  of  transgressions.  If  aught  hath  been 
said  opposed  to  thy  revealed  word,  hinder  it  from  its  evil 
influence  upon  the  minds  of  menf  and  if  Thou,  who  know- 
est  the  end  from  the  beginning,  dost  know  that  this  book  is 
to  harm  the  interests  of  thy  Son's  gospel,  then  never  may  it 
find  favour  in  the  eyes  of  men,  but  die  as  soon  as  it  is  born. 
But  if,  as  it  is  intended  and  devoted  to  thy  glory  and  to  the 
eternal  welfare  of  men,  so  it  be  fitted  to  procure  the  same, 
do  Thou  give  it  large  prosperity  and  a  lengthened  life.  Ob- 
scure its  weak  and  erroneous  parts,  and  sharpen  its  points 
of  truth,  and  prepare  the  soul  of  every  reader  for  its  recep- 
tion— that  men  may  awaken  from  deep  sleep,  and  prepare 
to  meet  thy  righteous  face.  For  Thou,  who  knowest  all 
things,  dost  know  how  the  souls  of  thousands  perish  from 
earthly  enjoyment  and  eternal  blessedness,  through  that  veil 
of  prejudice  and  ignorance  which  Satan,  the  prince  of  this 
world,  hath  cast  over  them.  Arise,  O  Lord!  arise,  for  the 
sake  of  the  earth,  and  make  thy  name  to  be  glorious  from 
the  rising  to  the  setting  sun.  This  grant,  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  Christ  thine  only  Son  our  Saviour,  to  whom,  with  the 
Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  now 
and  forever — Amen. 


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